Theresa May warned a Brexit deal which allows European Court of Justice to keep issuing rulings to British courts would be like ‘reversing referendum result’
Former Court of Appeal judge said it could allow hated European judges making the final decision on future trade disputes between Britain and the EU
THERESA May has been warned signing a Brexit deal which allows European Court of Justice to keep issuing rulings to British courts would be like reversing the referendum result.
A former Court of Appeal judge said it could allow hated European judges to make the final decision on future trade disputes between Britain and the EU.
Sir Richard Aikens was backed by the Conservative ex-cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith, who warns the plan would be "quite unacceptable" as it would put the UK in the position of "ceding power to a foreign court";.
It comes as the Prime Minister travels to Brussels to meet European Commissioner Jean-Claude Juncker at the start of a crucial week for the Brexit negotiations.
Sir Richard, the president of the Lawyers for Britain group, warned her not to compromise on the issue of the jurisdiction of the ECJ in order to secure an agreement on citizens' rights.
In a letter to Mrs May, seen by The Sunday Telegraph, he expressed concern that she was heading for an arrangement in which British judges would be able to refer specific cases relating to EU citizens to the ECJ for a "binding interpretation".
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He said: "If the (ECJ) were given the exclusive right to interpret the proposed UK/EU treaty in relation to EU citizens' rights to enter and stay in the UK, the right of the UK to 'control' UK borders and the rights of all citizens who lived in the UK would be lost forever.
"That would be tantamount to reversing the result of the 2016 referendum."
In a separate article in the Telegraph, Mr Duncan Smith said: "Any oversight in relation to EU citizens could also lead to a mission creep in which the EU demands similar arrangements for legal disputes on trade and other areas."