Treaty Of Rome

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31114, 18 July 1966, Page 10

Treaty Of Rome

Sir, —You have brushed off a correspondent, A. P. Harrison, with the remark that talk of treason is nonsense because Parliament is sovereign under constitutional law, and you claim that the Treaty of Rome is too long a document for “The Press” to publish. In a letter which appeared on July 12, I made the same suggestion of treason: also a request for the publication of the Treaty of Rome. I challenge your dictum that Parliament is sovereign under constitutional law if Britain subscribes to the Treaty of Rome, which is the point at issue. To sustain your contention, you must quote the clauses in the treaty which define the powers of the treaty council to make laws and to enforce them. The matter is of too great importance to Great Britain and the English-speaking nations of the Commonwealth to allow the question to go by default.—Yours, etc. W. B. BRAY. Leeston, July 15, 1966.

[Parliament is sovereign; and it exercises its sovereignty whenever it ratifies a treaty or an international agreement involving—as most treaties and agreements do—the surrender of part of its sovereignty. To call this treason is nonsense.—Ed., “The Press.”]