Labour demands theresa May drops promise to leave ECJ

Labour demands theresa May drops promise to leave ECJ

Labour has urged Theresa May to drop her promise to free Britain from the interference of EU judges in the latest sign the party is going soft on Brexit.

The PM has insisted the UK will finally leave the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice when we quit Brussels in March 2019, and regain full control of our own laws.

But shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer branded her opposition to the body an 'ideological and deeply unhelpful red line'.

Instead, he wants Britain to stay wedded to the rulings of an EU-UK 'court like body' which will have powers over the UK.

Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer said Theresa May's stringent opposition to the ECJ and the interference of European judges in UK affairs post Brexit is an 'unhelpful red line'

This would mean that meddling judges in the EU could still draw up rules and regulations which would bind people and businesses in Britain even after Brexit. 

In today's intervention, Mr Starmer calls for the UK to stay a member of a string of EU bodies after Brexit, including the European Medicines Agency (EMA), Europol and Euratom, which develops and regulates nuclear power.

In a letter in the Financial Times, Mr Starmer said it was important for Britain to seek a 'co-operative future relationship' with the EU 'not as members but as partners'.

The letter, which was also signed by Labour's shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth, said Britain's relationship with the ECJ needs to change.

But they called for another court-like body to have a role in governing Britain's affairs.

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth, pictured at Labour's party conference last year, also signed the letter calling for some kind of UK-EU court-like body

Theresa May, pictured at PMQs today, has promised to free Britain from the interference of the ECJ and after Brexit

They wrote: 'But we reject the ideological and deeply unhelpful red line the prime minister has drawn that would prevent any future involvement of an EU-UK court-like body (over regulation), even when such an arrangement is demonstrably in the national interest.

'We have called for a more flexible approach that would make it far easier for Britain to stay inside common EU arrangements that benefit the UK. 

It is the latest in a string of interventions by Labour MPs desperate to try to push the government into taking a softer stance on Brexit.

Several prominent Labour MPs have said that Britain could keep EU rules on free movement and stay in the single market after Brexit - hampering our ability to negotiate free trade deals around the world.

Jeremy Corbyn suffered a humiliating rebellion when 49 of his MPs defied him to back a parliamentary vote to stay in the single market and customs union after Brexit. 

He sacked three of his shadow ministers after they defied his three-line whip  to troop through the division lobbies.

And Shami Chakrabarti, his close ally and shadow attorney general, has suggested Britain could keep the free movement of people after Brexit - despite the party manifesto promising it will end.    

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