The Lords said parliament should take “a central role in the decision to trigger the Article 50 process, in the subsequent negotiation process, and in approving or otherwise the final terms under which the United Kingdom leaves the European Union”.
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He said: “An Act of Parliament would give greater legal certainty and could be used to enshrine the “constitutional requirements” required by Article 50, allowing for the setting of advantageous pre-conditions regarding the exit negotiations to be met before Article 50 could be triggered”.
Nonetheless, Davis admitted the government would need a degree of parliamentary ratification in order to secure the UK’s departure from the European Union, and committee chair Crispin Blunt suggested the Lords could summon a majority to vote against Brexit altogether.
The House if Lords Constitution Committee has published a report that has stated that by-passing Parliament and triggering Article 50 would be “unwise”, “constitutionally inappropriate” and “set a disturbing precedent”.
He said the government would take representations from across the City, but said the importance of passporting would differ for institutions, citing differences between retail, wholesale and investment banks.
The United Kingdom as a whole voted to leave in a referendum on 23 June, and Prime Minister Theresa May has said the will of the people must be respected.
“A proposal that could put Parliament in opposition to the people over something as simple as this is an extraordinary one”.
Lord Lang of Monkton, chairman of the committee, said Tuesday: “The referendum result was clear and it is right that the government is preparing to take Britain out of the EU”.
“Parliament should be asked to approve the decision to trigger Article 50-a decision which will start the formal process of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union and set a deadline for the UK’s exit”.
His comments came after a United Kingdom parliamentary report said it would be “constitutionally inappropriate” to act on the referendum without explicit parliamentary approval, something Mrs.
“Trade is a mutual benefit”, he said.
“I would not want anybody to think that was in my view a likely outcome”, the minister stressed.
He also dismissed a suggestion by Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell that ministers could demonstrate their commitment to Brexit by immediately dropping the maroon European Union passports and returning to the old-style British blue passports for all new issues.
He rejected a suggestion the United Kingdom could join the European Free Trade Association – like Norway and Switzerland – as a “transitional” measure in order to speed up the formal process of EU withdrawal while carrying on long-term trade negotiations.
“I am not in the business of symbolism”.
Asked for his response, Davis replied: “I’ll say a couple of things, other than get thee behind me, Satan”.
“I made no such pledge”.
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In terms of the government’s negotiating strategy, he said the government would set out broad objectives but not publicly detail its strategy because he said it didn’t want to undermine its negotiations.
