Thursday, November 02, 2017

One way of fixing it

What will Brexit mean for the UK? The British government doesn't want to say, out of fear that if voters knew the impact, they might change their minds. But now, the UK Parliament has ordered them to release the information to a select committee:
MPs have passed a motion ordering Theresa May to release 58 secret studies into the economic damage from Brexit, triggering a huge political row.

Ministers provoked fury by refusing to say they will abide by what independent parliamentary clerks advised would be a “binding” decision.


But pretty obviously if they don't, they'll be in contempt of Parliament. What that means is uncertain - while there are archaic powers to expel members, or even lock them in a clocktower, that hasn't been done for well over a century. But at the least, non-cooperation from Ministers will result in non-cooperation from Parliament. Which will mean a much harder time passing their Brexit legislation, or even a loss of confidence forcing new elections.