Examine The Arguments In Favour Of Sovereignty In The Uk

It is abundantly clear that, since it joined in January 1973, the UK’s main challenger of legal sovereignty is the EU. As epitomised by the Factortame case of 1990 and, more recently, the 2008 Coleman case, European Law ultimately takes primacy over UK law. In terms of sovereignty however, this is directly counteracted with the UK’s ability to withdraw membership at any time and restore its own sovereignty (as recognised in 1972 during negotiations regarding the European Community). It is important to firstly outline a few ways in which EU sovereignty has disadvantaged Britain. In addition to the former’s laws taking presidency over the latter’s, it is key to point out that the House of Lords’ function as the highest court of appeal has been …show more content…
Thus, it can once again be stated that sovereignty has not moved too far from British parliament because Britain as a state helps to strengthen the EU’s sovereignty- it permeates it (as evidenced in UK free market economics its shaping of the EU economic policy). As previously mentioned, the issue of trade, for example, would become a particularly contentious one if the UK were to withdraw as the EU would lose all benefits that it has to offer, consequently becoming weakened due to the UK’s absence. Furthermore, the argument that British sovereignty has not been lost in the context of membership of the European Union is strengthened due to the fact that EU decisions require a unanimous vote, to which Britain retains a veto which, of course, implies that it need not surrender its sovereignty at any point. In essence, it is undeniable that Parliament does relinquish a large proportion of its legal sovereignty to the European