Sovereignty and the EU - interesting paper

[WidowWadman]

Sovereignty is quoted as main pro reason for Brexit but they often misrepresent what influence EU membership has on sovereignty.
Chatham House have published the below analysis, which sheds light on this question.

www.chathamhouse.org/publication/britain-eu-and-sovereignty-myth

[WidowWadman]

www.chathamhouse.org/publication/britain-eu-and-sovereignty-myth

[lljkk]

Thanks for that. Below sentence jumped out at me because immigration/related issues are so important to Out voters:

The government’s struggle to reduce numbers of non-EU immigrants, who account for about half the total, given family ties, labour market demands and education visas, illustrates the challenge it would have were it to try to apply the same constraints to EU immigration.

So the only way to realistically reduce immigration is to raise those immigration bars even higher than they are now. Move to £50k threshold or "PhD required AND 3 yrs work experierence" perhaps? I guess it's what some folk want.

Also the CH point that if we help make eastern Europe more prosperous then they won't send their people west. Optimal strategy is to stay in EU & try to make them richer (I've been saying that for weeks).

[Winterbiscuit]

I notice the writer of that article thinks British sovereignty would be "illusory"

The argument seems to be that the UK has "pooled" its sovereignty and that this was a choice so it doesn't matter. I've also read that this supposedly means we haven't "lost" our sovereignty and can take it back at any time. We can? I'd like to use that ability while we still have it.

I don't think we have pooled our sovereignty, I think the UK has been gradually giving it up, and we need to reclaim it before it is gone for ever.

Of course we can collaborate with other nations without the EU. There's no need to hand over sovereign powers in order to do that. Many other countries don't find it necessary.

[WidowWadman]

Illjk - alternatively the government could just revise it's ludicrous net migration target which is based on nothing but what they thought would make them look tough.

[MrsBlackthorn]

Anyone who thinks leaving the EU will protect our sovereignty is deluding themselves. Look at the people on the Leave side - they're the same ones pushing for greater deregulation and protection for the City.

Leave the EU and we'll have almost no choice but to sign up to an equivalent to TTIP in order to sell our goods and import from elsewhere. That's handing our sovereignty to entirely unaccountable and unelected corporate interests.