I suspect legal Twitter is subjecting this bloody thing (a nearly 600 page long document) to FAR more scrutiny than those who will be voting on it tomorrow.
Take the following for example.
ARTICLE 166 - Decisions and recommendations
1. The Joint Committee shall, for the purposes of this Agreement, have the power to adopt
decisions in respect of all matters for which this Agreement so provides and to make appropriate
recommendations to the Union and the United Kingdom.
2. The decisions adopted by the Joint Committee shall be binding on the Union and the United
Kingdom, and the Union and the United Kingdom shall implement those decisions. They shall have
the same legal effect as this Agreement.
3. The Joint Committee shall adopt its decisions and make its recommendations by mutual
consent.
Rule 10 - Publicity and Confidentiality
1. Unless otherwise decided by the co-chairs, the meetings of the Joint Committee shall be
confidential.
2. Where the Union or the United Kingdom submits information considered as confidential or
protected from disclosure under its laws and regulations to the Joint Committee or any
specialised committee, the other party shall treat that information received as confidential.
3. Without prejudice to paragraph 2, the Union and the United Kingdom may each decide
individually on whether to publish, the decisions and recommendations adopted by the Joint
Committee in their respective official publication journals.
So, this outlines that there shall be a body responsible for facilitating and administering this agreement (composed of members from both the EU and UK) whose decisions are to:
a) Carry the full weight of both UK and EU law.
b) Be confidential by default.
c) Not even subject to even basic scrutiny by either elected government.
I can not find anything in there about how this body is to be appointed.
It is essentially the most fevered conspiracy theory of the most fervent Brexiteer made manifest.
What the actual. . . .
Edit: Also quite a bit of evidence emerging that this deal is just a ploy to deliver no deal by the back door anyway.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/li ... itics-live
- Pass this deal.
- Benn act circumvented.
- Sit on hands for 2 years / actively sabotage the next phase.
- No deal by default again.
This seems like a plan contingent on winning a GE at some point which is by no means certain, but I guess would be at least a little more likely if this deal does pass.
"Shoot for the Moon. If you miss, you'll end up co-orbiting the Sun alongside Earth, living out your days alone in the void within sight of the lush, welcoming home you left behind." - XKCD