Wednesday 31 October 2007

EU Law and the Philip Lawrence Murderer

The BBC today reported that “A senior High Court judge has refused a government request to reconsider a tribunal's decision to prevent a murderer being deported to Italy. Learco Chindamo, the murderer of London headteacher Philip Lawrence, could be released from prison next year.” The European Journal had already printed the following piece in the last [October] issue, by Bill Cash MP.

EU Law and the Philip Lawrence Murderer
Bill Cash MP

The British people will no doubt strongly support the widow of Philip Lawrence in her distress at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) decision, concerning her husband’s killer. The fact that the decision was taken on the basis of a European directive as compared to the Human Rights Act (1998) makes the situation worse. The essential issue is that whether in respect of the European Communities Act (1972), or the Human Rights Act (1998), Parliament has abrogated its responsibility and accountability to the electorate under both enactments. Westminster, on behalf of the electorate, to whom it is responsible must reassert both in principle and in practice its supremacy (endorsed by a Referendum on the new European Reform Treaty) and legislate in line with the wishes of the voters, overriding when necessary the Act of 1972 and the Act of 1998. Thus, we would reclaim the right to deport foreign prisoners and foreign convicts and to ensure that terrorists are put under proper control and protect the British people from them. The debate in the media has not touched on the fundamental principles nor the requirement that the British judiciary must be required by Westminster legislation to interpret and obey legislation passed in line with the wishes of the electorate and not some allegedly superior European jurisdiction or elite.

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