Note regarding the recent Brexit negotiations.
Firstly,
it is important to note that what has been agreed so far is not set in stone
and was only put down as a point so we can advance to the next stage of the
negotiation.
Despite
what has been written in the press, the EU has conceded several major positions
so far. The first one is regarding citizens’ rights. The EU wanted its laws
preserved in the UK in perpetuity and its direct enforcement should be by the
EU. Instead, once we leave we will be free to change or amend any EU law as we
see fit and for a limited time, our courts will be able to ask the ECJ for a
legal view on the law but our courts have the final say.
Another
concession we have with the EU, they didn’t want us to be able to conduct
criminality checks on EU nationals who commit crimes after we leave, and they
would not be subject to EU laws. Instead The EU have accepted that we will
carry out systematic criminality checks and will ask individuals to disclose
any records when they apply for documentation and EU citizens will be subject
to UK laws.
The EU
wanted us to pay up to €100 billion. Instead we will pay far less than that as
we said we would when the Prime Minister said we will honour our financial
commitments in good faith. This will be paid dependent on a broader agreement
on our future partnership, simple put if they reneged on any deal, they don’t
get any money.
Finally
it is important to note nothing has been agreed yet and any deal is at least a
year off when it comes to any conclusion. I am pleased that the Prime Minister
has confirmed several times that we will leave the Single Market, Customs Union
and have control over immigration. To not do so would leave us in the worst of
both worlds and therefore I back the statement, a no deal is better than a bad
deal.
