Madam, Thank you for passing on Mr Horne's inquiry about parliamentary sovereignty.
I am a very strong believer in the importance of parliamentary sovereignty, and it forms a vital backdrop to the discussions of the rule of law in my pamphlet Churchill's Legacy (2009) and book The Big Society (2010).
I also spoke in the House of Commons on December 1st, 2010, on the importance of parliamentary sovereignty in the debate on the Fixed Term Parliaments Bill. The text of my speech is on my website http://www.jesse4hereford.com">www.jesse4hereford.com.
However, I voted against the proposed amendment to the European Sovereignty Bill, for three main reasons: first, I think the Bill is sufficient as it stands, and would not be strengthened in practice by the amendment; secondly, the basic principle is sufficiently well-established in law not to require additional support from the proposed amendment; and thirdly, the proposed amendment seems wrongly to presuppose that the principle is not well-established – else why have it?
Jesse Norman MP