Shropshire Star

UK will leave jurisdiction of European Court of Justice, minister suggests

Damian Green contradicts senior colleagues who suggested ECJ should have UK role.

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Britain could remain subject to European Court of Justice (ECJ) rulings during a Brexit transition period but will eventually leave its jurisdiction, Theresa May’s most senior minister has suggested.

Damian Green said Leave backers voted to leave the ECJ’s purview to restore parliamentary sovereignty and a failure to deliver that would leave them feeling the UK has not left the European Union.

The First Secretary of State’s intervention came after three Tory former ministers hit out at the Prime Minister’s ECJ “red line”.

Damian Green
Damian Green argues that people voted to leave ECJ(David Mirzoeff/PA Wire/PA Images)

But Mr Green told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It’s not an ideological determination, it’s what people voted for in the referendum, the Brexit side won.

“If we said now we’re going to stay inside the single market which will mean that the European Court will decide some basic questions that happen inside this country, I think people would feel that we hadn’t left the European Union.”

At the weekend, former attorney general Dominic Grieve and ex-education secretary Nicky Morgan attacked Mrs May for refusing to allow any role for the ECJ after Brexit.

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