Keir Starmer MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, commenting on the Government’s latest Brexit policy paper on enforcement and dispute resolution, said:

“Any final deal with the EU that protects jobs and the economy will require an effective and robust dispute resolution mechanism. This will inevitably involve some form of independent court.

“The Prime Minister’s ideological insistence that there can be no future role whatsoever for the ECJ or any similar court-like body risks preventing the deal Britain needs. It has already held back a sensible and early agreement on issues such as Euratom and EU citizens.

“But the repeated reference to ending the “direct jurisdiction” of the ECJ is potentially significant. This appears to contradict the red line laid out in the Prime Minister’s Lancaster House speech and the government’s white paper, which stated there could be no future role of the ECJ and that all laws will be interpreted by judges in this country.”