Scheer backs Brexit despite chaos, says it’s giving Britain back control of itself
OTTAWA — Canadian Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer says his support for Britain’s departure from the European Union is undiminished, despite the chaos Brexit has sown in British politics.
The United Kingdom was plunged into uncertainty Thursday as Prime Minister Theresa May’s new Brexit deal with Europe met a rash of criticism. Two cabinet ministers resigned, the British pound fell sharply, and part of May’s own Conservative caucus was trying to take her out. All over a negotiated deal for Britain to leave the European Union that critics say will leave the country bound to rules made by the European Union but without a say in how those rules are made.
Scheer said his support for Britain’s move out of the EU rests not on economics or the practicalities of trade but rather on the principle of sovereignty.
“I do believe that the U.K. over the years has given up a tremendous amount of sovereignty,” he said in an interview. “The bureaucratic nature of the EU, the different levels of government, the fact that court decisions in the U.K. can be appealed to a higher level of court in Europe, those are all things I don’t think Canadians would ever accept for ourselves.”