Why William Hague’s ‘red card’ plan won’t work

Alas, now we know William Hague has joined the list – and it’s a long list – of British government ministers who do not understand how the European Union works. His idea that national parliaments should demand a ‘red card’ system so they can block unwanted EU legislation is muddled in several ways.

First is that, if national parliaments are where EU laws should be vetoed, where does that leave the prime ministers who make up the European Council?  Prime ministers – and foreign ministers, and agricultural ministers, and the rest — go to Brussels and put their vote or their veto (when they’ve got one) on the table when there is any EU legislation that has to be approved. If the British Government says yes to a piece of EU legislation, and then the British parliament says red-card no, who gets to claim democratic legitimacy? Will the government have to resign?

Second, Hague’s plan in no way would return sovereignty to parliament.