This AS Level Politics essay evaluates whether Brexit signifies a decisive return to parliamentary sovereignty in the UK. It discusses the impact of EU membership on parliamentary sovereignty, the regaining of legislative control post-Brexit, and the ongoing challenges in areas like immigration and...
Evaluate the view that Brexit marks a decisive return to parliamentary sovereignty (25/30)
Opinion is sharply divided as to whether Brexit marks a decisive decision to return to
parliamentary sovereignty. On one hand, EU membership was seen to have undermined
parliamentary sovereignty with its regulations over laws based on trade, immigration and
human rights while Brexit has enabled the UK to regain control over its laws and regulations.
Therefore, the UK can make laws suiting national interest. On the other hand, the UK’s
departure from the EU has had an impact on issues such as immigration and security
cooperation as the UK is no longer part of the EU’s free movement area. This has
challenged the UK government to ensure that the country remains an attractive destination
for skilled workers. Overall, Brexit has led to parliamentary sovereignty to a large extent as
the UK is no longer bound by EU laws and parliament is now the supreme law making body,
however it wasn’t a decisive decision as while the UK has refined some control over its legal
system, economic and trade policies, it is still bound by international agreements with the EU
The principle of parliamentary sovereignty has been challenged by the UK’s membership
with the European Union where under EU law, the UK is required to comply with a range of
regulations and directives many of which are created by the EU’s institutions rather than by
the UK parliament. For example, the working time directive which limited the number of
hours that employees could be required to work each week. Furthemore, the Dublin
Regulation which established the criteria for determining which EU member state was
responsible for processing an asylum claim and the EU’s Family Reunification Directive,
established common rules for non- EU family members of EU citizens. Hence, Brexit has
enabled the UK to regain control over its laws and regulations and has been able to take
back control over key policy areas such as immigration and trade such as Immigration Act
2020 introduced a new point based system for skilled works, which assigns points based on
factors such as qualifications, english language proficiency and job offers in order to attract
highly skilled workers to the UK. However, Uk’s sovereignty is limited after Brexit as seen
with the Northern Ireland Protocol, which requires the UK to follow EU regulations in order to
avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Furthermore, the
UK may still have to comply with certain EU regulations to maintain access to the EU’s
single market such as product safety, environmental protection and worker’s rights. Overall,
although the UK is still part of international laws and agreements, it has gained
parliamentary sovereignty after Brexit by getting control over the UK regulations back with
access as the supreme legal authority but wasn’t not a decisive decision as shown by
Northern Ireland Protocol.
Since the UK’s departure from the EU in 2020, parliamentary sovereignty has been
strengthened with the UK being able to negotiate its own trade deals with other countries.
Before Brexit, the UK was part of the EU's single market and customs union which meant
that it was part of a large trading bloc that negotiated trade deals on behalf of all its
members. After Brexit, the UK has had to negotiate its own trade deal where it has prioritised
negotiations with major trading partners such as the US, Canada, Australia and New
Zealand as well as with countries in Asia and the Middle East. The Uk also sought to join the
Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a trade
agreement between 11 countries including Japan ,Canada and Australia. However, the
process of negotiating trade deals has been challenged as the UK has to balance its desire
for increased trade with the need to protect its domestic industries and standards.
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