Remain-supporting outlets suggest Theresa May’s government is set to drop its insistence on full judicial independence after Brexit — but this may be an exaggeration.
A source told the left-liberal Guardian newspaper that the Government’s latest position paper will propose that judgments “obtained in one country can be recognised and enforced in another” — meaning that, in practice, the rulings of EU-based judges may continue to apply to British individuals and businesses in the United Kingdom.
However, there was much disagreement with the Guardian characterising this as a “climbdown on European courts deciding cross-border cases”
The source justified the Government position by saying that “with more and more families living across borders, we need to make absolutely sure that if and when problems arise they can be reassured that cross-border laws will apply to them in a fair and sensible way”.
‘Colonial’ EU wants Europeans to be treated as a ‘super-privileged caste’ in the UK after Brexit. https://t.co/n0HbMJW4p8
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) June 2, 2017
Brexit Secretary David Davis’s department says this is not the same thing as remaining subject to the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU/ECJ), being a question of mere “civil judicial co-operation”.
Matters covered by such “co-operation” might include “issues such as a small business that has been left out of pocket by a supplier based in another EU country; a consumer who wants to sue a business in another country for a defective product they have purchased online; or a person who needs to settle divorce, child custody, or child maintenance issues with a family member who is living in a different EU country”.
Brexit: Ex-EU Judge Accuses Brussels of ‘Imperialism’ as Negotiations Stumble https://t.co/f4ayF7q0Ue
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) June 28, 2017
The Remain-supporting Guardian suggested “the distinction may prove a narrow one for individuals who could yet find themselves subject to the rulings of judges in France or Germany long after Britain has left the EU”.
However, the Head of Europe and Trade Policy at the Insitute of the Directors, Allie Renison , who was quoted in the article, agreed with lawyer Ciarán McGonagle that the article was “a real mess”, with the ECJ and mutual recognition of national judgements being “ostensibly” separate.
EU Court Rules Illegal Migrants Cannot Be Jailed https://t.co/A7TFcmngDJ pic.twitter.com/bYsiw3czwI
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) June 7, 2016
The Prime Minister has previously insisted that “We will not have truly left the European Union if we are not in control of our own laws … Leaving the European Union will mean that our laws will be made in Westminster, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast. And those laws will be interpreted by judges not in Luxembourg but in courts across this country.”
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