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[...] As the government’s Brexit legislation returns to the Commons on Tuesday for a marathon debate, Sir Keir is set to trigger a vote that will call for a time-limited transitional deal on the same terms that the UK currently has and that will mean staying in the single market and customs union.
Sir Keir is contrasting Labour’s position with the government’s that he says contains a fundamental inconsistency. He argues Mrs May is, in effect, seeking a standstill transition but that this will be impossible to achieve because her planned Brexit legislation aims to end oversight for the European Court of Justice after March 2019.
In an open letter to Mrs May, Sir Keir noted that, in her recent Florence speech, she proposed “an implementation period of around two years” after March 2019 that “should continue on current terms” and would leave the UK in “the existing structure of EU rules and regulations”.
Sir Keir says that according to the EU’s Article 50 guidelines “that can only mean abiding by the common rules of the single market and a customs union, including continued jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice during this time-limited period”.
In addition, he argues the European Council’s guidelines on the Brexit negotiations state that any transitional arrangements “would require existing Union regulatory, budgetary, supervisory, judiciary and enforcement instruments and structures to apply”.
Sir Keir argues that, given the EUs guidelines, the government’s position on transitional arrangements is unclear for two reasons.
First, the withdrawal bill as drafted cannot deliver a time-limited transitional period on the same basic terms as currently exist because it brings an immediate end to any role for the ECJ. He notes that clause 6 of the bill states: “A [UK] court or tribunal is not bound by any principles laid down, or any decisions made, on or after exit day by the European Court.”
Second, he argues the government’s position on transitional arrangements has been undermined by statements from Conservative MPs contradicting her Florence speech. He writes: “We have counted 14 Conservative MPs, including the foreign secretary, who have ruled out or rejected a transitional deal on the terms you have outlined. That is more MPs than the government’s working majority.” [...]
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