Another in our very occasional series thinking about some of the aspects of the “Brexit mess” the UK is now in.
[Note: What follows are largely my thoughts on the legal landscape as I see it, based on various legal items I have read over recent days and weeks. I am not a lawyer. This is not legal opinion. It is my ramblings.]
I am heartily sick of all the misinformation and stupid comment which is pervading the media waves at present. So in the wake of yesterday’s court judgement on the constitutional issues surrounding Brexit I thought a few (legal) facts about the mess we’re in were in order. These thoughts will be uncomfortable and unwelcome for the unthinking masses.

1. We do NOT have a constitutional crisis. The UK constitutional process is working exactly as designed with the courts ruling on what is legally permissible and leaving the political shenanigans to Parliament and the Executive. Politicians may have brewed up a political crisis, but that is an entirely different kettle of fishcakes.
2. The High Court judges are NOT against “the people” (a nebulous concept at the best of times) nor are they trying to stop us leaving the EU – neither is their role. If you read the Miller judgement the judges say this explicitly. Their role is to decide what is legally permissible under our constitution. Whether or not we leave the EU is a political decision on which the judges specifically do not comment.
3. It is erroneous to say that the UK does not have a written Constitution. We do have a written Constitution (not my opinion, but legal opinion); it is all written down in common, statute and case law. It just isn’t codified (all tidily organised and in one place for easy reference); but it is written down.
4. The Government does not HAVE to take us out of the EU. The Act enabling the referendum explicitly states (as both sides in the recent court case have admitted, and the judges agreed) that the referendum was only advisory. The Government is NOT bound by the result; they have made a political decision to follow it through.
5. If there is a vote in the House of Commons, MPs are NOT bound to vote in favour of leaving the EU just because their constituents did. MPs are representatives of the people and are thus bound to vote in the way they believe is in the country’s best interests. (That does not mean they will, after careful thought, all come to the same opinion.) They are NOT mandated delegates who have to vote as their constituents tell them. Voting according to their own opinions and consciences is legally possible and allowed; whether anyone considers it politically expedient is a different matter.

Conclusion: What we have in the UK at present is a political crisis, of the Government’s making, and not a constitutional crisis.
Now will everyone STFU and act their age not their shoe size. Yes, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph and others, I’m looking at you.