Top judge calls for clarity on future role of European law
BRITAIN’S top judge has been criticised for suggesting the country’s judges could still be led by European courts after the UK leaves the European Union.
Lord Neuberger, the outgoing Supreme Court president, suggested British judges could still apply European Court of Justice (ECJ) rulings after the UK’S withdrawal from the EU.
He called on the Government to make clear what role the ECJ will play in Britain.
Theresa May has made ending the ECJ’S oversight of British legal matters one of her Brexit “red lines”. But ministers have also said the UK courts will still have to use European case law to inform their rulings around legislation derived from the EU.
Speaking to the BBC, Lord Neuberger said: “If [the Government] doesn’t express clearly what the judges should do about decisions of the ECJ after Brexit, or indeed any other topic after Brexit, then the judges will simply have to do their best.
“But to blame the judges for making the law when Parliament has failed to do so would be unfair. If the UK Parliament says we should take into account decisions of the ECJ, we will do so. If it says we shouldn’t then we won’t. Basically we will do what the statute says.”
But Owen Paterson, the Tory former cabinet minister, said it must be made clear that the ECJ will not be able to tell British citizens “what to do”.
Mr Paterson said: “You cannot leave the judges flapping around without clear guidance and I would suggest we set up our own body which would parallel and mirror and be in symmetry with the ECJ. “There must be a recognition that the ECJ does not have a remit to tell UK citizens what to do.”
A government spokesman said the “direct jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in the UK must come to an end”.
“However, we want to provide maximum certainty so the Repeal Bill will ensure that for future cases, UK courts continue to interpret Eu-derived law using the ECJ’S case law, as it exists on the day we leave the EU,” he said.