An agreement on the UK’s future relationship with the EU after Brexit has been reached by cabinet. Here are the key points from the three page deal published by the government.
Common rulebook
- The UK will maintain a common rule book for all goods with the EU after Brexit., including agricultural products.
- A treaty will be signed where the UK commits to continued harmonisation with EU rules – avoiding friction at the UK-EU border, including Northern Ireland.
- Parliament will oversee the UK’s trade policy and will be able to choose to diverge from the EU rules.
- Co-operative arrangements will be established between EU and UK competition regulators.
- Different arrangements will be organised for services where its in interest to have regulatory flexibility.
Joint jurisdiction
- A joint institutional framework will be established to interpret UK-EU agreements, in the UK by UK courts, and in the EU by EU courts.
- Decisions by UK courts would involve “due regard paid to EU case law in areas where the UK continued to apply a common rulebook”.
- Cases will still be referred to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) as the interpreter of EU rules, but “cannot resolve disputes between the two”.
Facilitated customs arrangement
- The borders between the UK and EU will be treated as a combined customs territory, where the UK would apply domestic tariffs and trade policies for goods intended for the UK, but charge EU tariffs and their equivalents for goods which will end up heading into the EU.
- A post-Brexit UK would be able to control its tariffs for trade with the rest of the world without causing border disruption.This avoids a hard Irish border, and removes the need for “backstop” arrangements to be put in place before the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
Aims
These proposals are not final, they are but and approach to final negotiations with the European Union before it reaches a crucial stage.
According to the government the plan:
- Gives the UK an independent trade policy, with the ability to set its own non-EU tariffs and to reach separate trade deals
- Ends the role of the ECJ in UK affairs
- Ends annual payments to the EU budget with “appropriate contributions for joint action in specific areas”
- End the free movement of people to give the UK back control of how many people can enter the company
- Create a mobility framework to allow UK and EU citizens to travel to each other’s territories to study and work.
Full details will be released next week.
Credit: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-44749993
