It was up to the politicians to inform the people, surely? Why, after the people voted to leave, did the politicians then vote for Article 50? Di they not understand what they were voting for?
I skim-read a Twitter thread the other day by one of the legal eagles, and I'm trying to remember who it was to find it again.
The only bit I remember clearly is that Parliament didn't vote to trigger A50, but basically to give May the equivalent of a proxy to do so. Triggering it was an executive action on her part, which surprised me.
Trying to verify my recollection of the rest of the thread, I came upon this, which I find a bit confusing:
Brexit: MPs overwhelmingly back Article 50 bill
1 February 2017
MPs have voted by a majority of 384 to allow Prime Minister Theresa May to get Brexit negotiations under way.
They backed the government's European Union Bill, supported by the Labour leadership, by 498 votes to 114.
But the SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats opposed the bill, while 47 Labour MPs and Tory ex-chancellor Ken Clarke rebelled.
The bill now faces further scrutiny in the Commons and the House of Lords before it can become law.
The prime minister has set a deadline of 31 March for invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, getting official talks with the EU started. The bill returns to the Commons next week.https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-38833883Looking up the European Union Bill, I found this:
The European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill 2017-19 is the planned name of a future bill of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that proposes to enshrine any Withdrawal Agreement between the UK and the EU in domestic law. The Withdrawal Agreement is the subject of ongoing and future Brexit negotiations and won't be detailed until the negotiations are completed.[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_(Withdrawal_Agreement)_Bill_2017%E2%80%9319I was about to hit submit, but the EUB just triggered another point made in that thread: it was in response to someone on Twitter saying that MPs voted overwhelmingly to leave. Whoever it was corrected that comment: in Parliament, MPs never voted to leave. They voted for the EUB.
NB: There's more on that Wiki page:
Objectives:
Enshrine the Withdrawal Agreement between the UK and the EU in domestic law including any financial settlement and agreement on citizens’ rights[1]
Legislate the details of an implementation period[1]
Allow for changes to EU law to be legally binding in the UK
Allow for Parliamentary scrutiny and oversight of the process via primary legislation, instead of secondary legislation via the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill
Amend the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 to save the effect of the European Communities Act 1972 during the transition period.