Britain will answer to EU court during Brexit transition

British prime minister Theresa May has told MPs that Britain will continue to be bound by decisions from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) during a transition period after Brexit. Responding to questions in the House of Commons after she gave an update on Brexit negotiations, the prime minister said the ECJ's writ would continue to run in Britain during a transition of around two years.

“We want to have a smooth and orderly process of withdrawal, with minimum disruption. That’s why we want that implementation period and we have to negotiate what will operate during that implementation period. And, yes, that may be that we will start off with the ECJ still governing rules for part of that period,” she said.

Ms May was answering a question from Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, an enthusiastic Brexiteer, who also asked for an assurance that Britain would accept no new rules made by the EU during the transition.

"Given the way that things operate, it is highly unlikely that anything would be brought forward during that period that hasn't already started discussions through the European Union, to which we are party until we leave and on which we would have been able to say whether they would be a rule that we would sign up to, or a rule that we would not wish to sign up to," she said.

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The prime minister refused five times to tell MPs if the government has been given legal advice on whether the decision to trigger article 50 can be reversed. She said her government has no intention of revoking the decision to start the withdrawal process but refused to say whether she had seen legal advice saying that it can be reversed.

Earlier, Ms May said that Britain would leave “full membership” of the single market and the customs union when it leaves the EU in March 2019 but would seek to maintain similar trading arrangements during the transition period.

Joint principles

On Northern Ireland, she said Britain and the EU were drafting joint principles on preserving the Common Travel Area and associated rights, and both sides had stated explicitly they will not accept any physical infrastructure at the Border.

“We owe it to the people of Northern Ireland and indeed to everyone on the island of Ireland to get this right,” she said.

The British government on Monday night published White Papers on future trade and customs arrangements, setting out how Britain could operate as “an independent trading nation” after Brexit, even if no deal is agreed with the EU.

The White Paper on customs says that, although Britain hopes to reach a deal with the EU, if it does not, it will “make provision for the UK to establish a standalone customs regime from day one”.

The White Paper says that, if there is a customs deal with the EU, special arrangements would have to be made for Northern Ireland, taking into account the unique circumstances surrounding the Border. Among the proposals is a cross-Border trade exemption to ensure that smaller traders “could continue to move goods with no new requirements in relation to customs processes at the land Border”.

Reciprocal arrangement

The White Paper says that the nature of the Border means both sides should work towards a reciprocal arrangement but suggests that, in the event of no deal, Britain could decide unilaterally to introduce a soft Border regime.

“The UK government will have flexibility to determine its own Border arrangements for the purposes of goods movements, while remaining consistent with its international obligations. The UK government’s clear priority in devising new Border arrangements is to respect the strong desire from all parties and all parts of the community in Northern Ireland and Ireland to avoid any return to a hard Border, and to maintain as seamless and frictionless a Border as possible,” it says.