The latest desperate idea to prevent a delay to Brexit is to threaten to sabotage the EU budget and make Nigel Farage a European Commissioner. It won’t work.
The Sunday Telegraph splashes with the story today. It says senior government figures are considering sabotaging the EU if Brexit is delayed. It quotes Steve Baker, the hardline Tory who runs the European Research Group. He says appointing Farage would be like shooting a “nuclear weapon into the heart of an asteroid”. It adds that Boris Johnson could veto the EU’s next budget.
If this really is the government’s plan, it is hopeless stuff. It would indicate that the Prime Minister has virtually given up his promise to be “dead in a ditch” rather than delay Brexit beyond the end of the month. Otherwise, why would the government be threatening all sorts of terrible things against our European friends?
In fact, the threats are not credible.
The hardline Brexiters have latched onto the possibility that the European Commission would not be legally constituted unless it had 28 Commissioners. Normally, one is proposed by each member state. If Johnson imposed Farage, the EU would be quaking in its boots – or, at least, that is the theory.
The flaw is that the UK can only propose a Commissioner, not impose one. If Johnson suggested Farage, the prospective new European Commission President could say no. Even if she didn’t, the European Parliament might veto the appointment.
But there is an even better way of foiling such a plot. Our own Parliament could pass a law instructing Johnson whom to propose as a Commissioner. The easiest solution might be to suggest Julian King, the highly respected former diplomat who currently does the job.
What about Johnson vetoing the EU budget? Here, it is important to distinguish between the annual budget and the next seven-year one. The UK can’t veto the annual budget, because such matters are determined by qualified majority voting.
In theory, we could block the next seven-year budget,. But this is not due to be agreed until next June. The “Benn Act” only requires Johnson to ask for a delay to Brexit until the end of January. Are hardline Brexiters now contemplating staying in the EU until June? That would be quite a volte-face. We won’t need that long even to hold a new referendum.