A deal has been struck between the UK and the EU on phase one of the Brexit negotiations, which hinged on the status of EU citizens in the UK, the bloc’s financial claims on Britain, and the border between Ulster and the Republic of Ireland.
The EU negotiating team has, after many ups and downs, agreed that Prime Minister Theresa May has made “sufficient progress” on their demands, and will recommend the European Council greenlights progress towards trade talks — but leading Leave supporters to believe too many concessions have been made, with the country exiting the bloc in name only.
Details of the agreement published by the European Commission and comments by members of the May government and EU elite suggest a substantial blurring of Britain’s supposed “red line” on the powers of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU/ECJ) in the United Kingdom after Brexit, with environment secretary Michael Gove boasting that the rights of EU citizens will be upheld by British courts, but “of course” they will have regard for EU law when doing so — arguably giving EU citizens in Britain the status of what has been described as a “super-privileged caste”, with superior legal rights to British nationals.
EU communication on Brexit Agreement for sufficient progress, states 1. EU citizens are a super class in the U.K. a with U.K. citizens rights second class. 2. We pay EU in full 2019 & 2020 and after we pay an average sum until when? Are we leaving? https://t.co/L1GIrl27GC
— Steven Woolfe MEP (@Steven_Woolfe) December 8, 2017
“It’s pathetic,” commented Brexit campaign leader Nigel Farage.
“I knew when I watch her saying live that the rights of three million EU citizens would be upheld by British courts, I knew she was lying then because you find out that actually the European Court of Justice, and I quote from the document ‘will remain the ultimate arbiter of the rights of EU citizens’ and that goes on for a further eight years.
The Emergency Election Sale is now live! Get 30% to 60% off our most popular products today!