The European Court has ruled that the UK must pay €32 million for a transgression of EU rules. Despite Government claims that we’ve left the supersate, it’s clear we are still under its thrall…
The hefty fine relates to the UK failing to enforce the prohibition of marked fuel usage in private pleasure boats within the timeframe the Commission prescribed. Although the transgression took place in Northern Ireland where EU rules still apply, the ECJ ruled to charge the whole UK economy. Apparently the penalty fine calculated from Northern Ireland’s GDP “would not be sufficiently dissuasive”, so the entire UK ‘s GDP is used instead.
Reform UK’s Northern Ireland spokesman Ben Habib nailed it:
“Three years after leaving the EU, the entire United Kingdom is still subject to EU law and European Court rulings. And, as is evident, the gravy train payments demanded by Brussels continue. Didn’t someone promise we would take back control of our laws and our cash?”
Read the full ruling below:
The rabidly europhile SNP government has asked Westminster to sue the European Union in what would be the first case of UK vs Commission since Brexit. So much for the Auld Alliance…
SNP ministers believe that the European Commission misinterpreted Common Agricultural Policy legislation when it decided to fine the then-Sturgeon government back in 2020 for handing out too many direct grants to farmers. ScotGov is hoping the UK can claw back around £2.4 million for it as result of winning the case filed at the European Court of Justice. UK Farming Minister Mark Spencer said “this government is backing British farmers in Scotland”. A heart-warming moment for the Union…
Cue much amusement among unionists in Westminster this morning as the nationalists come to ask for the UK Government to fight the case on their behalf as devolved administrations aren’t agents in international courts. Who thought it would be the ScotNats pushing Britain into the fray against the EU again….
Before ruminating on the “lies” and “propaganda” of the Brexit campaign, Jean-Claude Juncker heartily endorsed Rishi Sunak’s Northern Ireland deal. Speaking to Andrew Marr for LBC, he called the deal a “real breakthrough”, saying he was “quite happy” with what he described as “diplomacy at its best”. Jean-Claude then gave further insight into why he was so keen on the deal:
“I think that the European Commission will have more authority than it seems. And as the European Court of Justice has been reconfirmed in its role as arbiter, when it comes to internal market questions concerning Northern Ireland. So, I think that although the deal is giving response to the major British concerns, there is a part of European Union in the deal some in Britain is trying to hide.”
Rishi will not be grateful for this lavish endorsement. Boris might be onto something here…
Remainers have predictably been salivating all over the ECJ’s ruling this morning that the UK can “unilaterally” revoke Article 50. The notoriously slow-moving EU Court discovered a remarkable turn of speed to deliver their judgement just in time for it to land one day before the crucial parliamentary vote in the UK. Definitely not a political court…
There’s just one problem – it’s not what the judgement actually says:
“…the revocation of the notification of the intention to withdraw must, first, be submitted in writing to the European Council and, secondly, be unequivocal and unconditional…”
So it is not as simple as the UK simply telling the European Council it wants to withdraw Article 50 – the EU specifically reserves the power to rule on whether the UK’s notification is truly “unequivocal and unconditional”. Guido isn’t aware of any definitions of “unilateral” which include having to explicitly gain the approval of someone else. As ever, the ECJ marks its own homework to ensure that it always has the ultimate say over anything a member state can do…
The bottom line is that Article 50 is not going to be withdrawn unless there is a government in place that is prepared to table an Act of Parliament to unequivocally revoke it, and a Parliament that is prepared to vote this through. Even in today’s heavily Remainer-loaded Parliament, this is simply not going to happen…
After a five-year legal battle, James Dyson has finally succeeded in his long-running legal battle to get the EU’s top court to strike down their absurd regulation that vacuum cleaners should be tested… without dust. The regulation enabled Dyson’s German competitors to market their vacuum cleaners with superior energy labelling, despite the fact that their performance dropped significantly as soon as their bags contained dust. That is, as soon as they were used…
The ruling means the EU will now have to go back and design a regulation that means that test are carried out “as close as possible to actual conditions of use”. A rare victory for common sense in the EU…
Jacob Rees Mogg managed to extract a rare commitment from the Prime Minister that she is committed to “ensuring that in the future the ECJ does not have jurisdiction in the UK.” The PM will find it tricky to wriggle out of this commitment…
Though it has to be said that for a vicar’s daughter she makes a lot of commitments that she doesn’t keep. Knowingly or unknowingly…
