Bar leaders have published a timely Brexit blue-print this week to help tackle the issues raised by the Irish border question. Chair of the Bar, Andrew Langdon QC said: ‘This analysis sign-posts some of the legal avenues that could help Government to manage the competing demands and priorities inherent in the negotiations.’
Brexit Paper no 25 looks at the legal and historic links between the EU, the internal market and customs union, and how the UK could negotiate a reduced role for the ECJ as well as tighter controls on EU worker migration while protecting key economic interests.
Hugh Mercer QC, who chairs the Brexit Working Group at the Bar Council, said: ‘By building on the legal framework covering the UK’s existing opt-outs, the Government could solve some of the most difficult issues in the current talks while keeping the power to negotiate bi-lateral deals on agriculture, fisheries, competition, trade and environment, which would end the European Court of Justice’s jurisdiction in those areas.’
