Brexit news: Bernard Jenkin outlines exactly why ECJ justification must end
Brexit Secretary David Davis and EU negotiator Michel Barnier outlined a “decisive step” that will lead “orderly withdrawal” of the UK earlier today as the pair announced they had agreed transition terms. In the agreement, the document states UK nationals and EU citizens arriving during the transition will receive the same rights as those before Brexit, frustrating Mr Jenkin. The European Court of Justice will also have "jurisdiction" over matters relating to EU law and EU citizens during the transition. The Brexiteer said: “The enforcement mechanisms. We can’t have the United Kingdom Parliament bound lock stock and barrel by the European Court of Justice as it is now. When we are no longer represented on the European Court of Justice and we are no longer part of that jurisdiction.
BBC•GETTY Brexit news: Bernard Jenkin outlined why ECJ jurisdiction must end post-Brexit
“Why are we passing an act of Parliament that abolishes the European Communities act that brings all of this into law, it’s going to be technically very difficult to exactly replicate this. “I think there are going to be technical legal details that will end up with us having a subtly different jurisdiction where we will perhaps have regard to what is happening in the European Union. And we oblige our courts to do this, to have regard. “We cannot actually be bound as we are now because we are leaving, it doesn’t respect the referendum result.” Mr Jenkin also told the BBC's Daily Politics it was important to look at the “small print” in the lengthy agreement when discussing exactly what the UK had agreed. He said: “Most constituencies in the House of Commons voted to leave, they voted to be free of European Court of Justice and of the lawmaking capacity of the European Union, that is what the referendum was fundamentally about.
We cannot actually be bound as we are now, because we are leaving Bernard Jenkin
“To finish up in the same case but without sitting at the table and actually being a member, this becomes a constitutional outrage, and I am quite certain the Government is not going to agree to it. Which is why we need to look at the small print.” Mr Jenkin made it clear when asked by host Jo Coburn that it would not be acceptable for the UK to have EU law imposed on it with no seat at the table in Brussels. He said: “There is going to have to be some pretty significant safeguards. No country would submit itself completely to a foreign jurisdiction, which the EU becomes after we have left. And just accept new laws and new court rulings. “There is going to have to be some mediation arrangement, even by our own Parliament because when you are no longer represented on the court, when you are no longer sitting at the table to make the new laws, how can we possibly make ourselves a prisoner of this arrangement? That would not be acceptable.” The agreement between the UK and EU comes just two weeks after Prime Minister Theresa May dismissed the EU’s draft agreement. The fine details of the 120-page agreement are yet to be released, but terms agreed also include a multi-billion pound divorce bill, confirmation that Britain is able to ratify deals during the transition period and sets out the position on Britain’s waters.
Brexit latest: David Davis meets EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier Mon, March 19, 2018 David Davis meets EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels ahead of a crunch meeting of European Union leaders later this week Play slideshow AFP/Getty Images 1 of 10 British Brexit minister David Davis (L) and EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier meet at the European Commission in Brussels