So does the encroaching writ of the European Union. It never came to that, and now the tendency is to try to move the other way. But Europe is a mighty force for the rearrangement of sovereignty. European verities add to the feeling that the sound and fury we're about to witness is, in part, a charade. Still doing one's best to be impressed by the neo-Gothic palace beside the Thames, all one remembers, unfortunately, is the idleness and lack of tenacity with which Westminster handles its existing right to invigilate what Brussels commands.
Parliament remains, of course, sovereign.
It has the power to overturn devolution, cancel the Treaty of Rome, and pass statutes containing solemn words that purport to undo the laws of global economics. The more telling point is that most of the disablement has been at the hands of parliament itself. They responded, for very good reason, to imperatives that sent some power down to regions and some up to Europe. They now have to live with the consequences, beside which Big Ben and the Palace of Westminster look more like a protective facade than a fortress of democracy. Many MPs make the best of this.