As the UK government begins a second round of exit talks with the EU, it is facing a Brexit battle on the home front.
The week began with a fight over money, with UK foreign secretary Boris Johnson telling the EU it could “go whistle” if it was seeking an “extortionate” financial settlement after Brexit (see EUROPE 11828). But it ended with the UK admitting it has bills to pay. “The Government recognises that the UK has obligations to the EU, and the EU obligations to the UK, that will survive the UK’s withdrawal—and that these need to be resolved,” said Brexit secretary David Davis in a written statement to Parliament, adding that he would “work with the EU to determine a fair settlement of the UK’s rights and obligations”.
His admission came as the UK released a trio of position papers on ongoing court cases, nuclear energy and the position of EU bodies in the UK, which confirm the UK rejects the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice (CJEU) post-Brexit, and that it will be leaving Euratom, the EU nuclear energy body.
“The UK’s departure from the EU will end the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the UK,” the bill said. The cut-off date is Brexit day, with court cases involving the UK that are pending on Brexit day - and where the facts occurred before the UK’s exit - no longer within the EU court’s purview, the bill said. In a position paper on citizens’ rights published last month, the UK also said that any rights enjoyed by EU citizens would be guaranteed by UK courts, and not the CJEU (see EUROPE 11816).
On Euratom, the tone was less aggressive, with the UK paper acknowledging that leaving the EU also means leaving Euratom, but insisting on maintaining “a close and effective relationship” with the other 27 Euratom members. Scientists, cancer specialists and researchers have raised fears that leaving Euratom will impact the nuclear fuel supply, cancer treatments and shared research projects. “While we’re leaving the EU, we are not leaving Europe, and we want to continue cooperating with our friends and neighbours on issues of mutual importance including nuclear safeguards,” Mr Davis said in his written statement. It is likely to be one of the issues on which EU negotiators make more progress during the second round of talks.
In a separate text published this week, on the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill - previously touted as the "Great Repeal Bill", which would effectively end the application of EU law in the UK - the government confirmed it was also repealing the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights, which comprises EU case law, the European Convention on Human Rights and any international obligations.
The repeal bill has opened up a new Brexit battle on the home front, with the bill being promptly rejected in a joint statement by the Scottish and Welsh first ministers as a “naked power grab” by Westminster, an “attack” on devolution that they said could “destabilise" the two economies. The exit from the Charter of Fundamental Rights also sets the Conservatives up against the opposition Labour Party, which wants to incorporate the charter into UK law.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was in Brussels this week to meet EU negotiator Michel Barnier, alongside the Scottish and Welsh first ministers, said the June election result “has clearly changed the context for the Brexit talks”. “The Government will have to listen to Parliament and will not be able to have it all its own way,” he said in a statement after meeting Mr Barnier, adding that Labour had “extended the hand of partnership for a new relationship with Europe”.
The fact that Mr Barnier met with Mr Corbyn, Scotland’s Nicola Sturgeon and Welsh leader Carwyn Jones this week was telling. There are many in the EU who hope that British premier Theresa May’s slim parliamentary majority (with Northern Irish Party, the DUP) - reduced to 12 after the suspension of an MP this week for racist comments - will force her into a ‘hard Brexit’ climbdown.