A plea for clarity on post-Brexit legal system

In a letter to Justice minister Lucy Frazer QC this week, Neill said the MoJ has provided ‘little detail or certainty’ about how civil judicial co-operation will be achieved from 1 January 2021, after the transition period ends.

The draft Political Declaration states that ‘the parties will explore options for judicial co-operation in matrimonial, parental responsibility and other related matters’. Neill said: ‘So broad and unspecific a statement provides little comfort.’

Moreover, Neill said the committee was ‘disappointed with progress to date’ on maintaining co-operation on criminal justice and concerned that the loss of access to the European Arrest Warrant, European Criminal Records Information System and Schengen Information System II would have ‘serious downstream consequences. It would impact on time in court, costs in court and the ability to bring justice to bear on criminals’.

There was a lack of clarity on the status of the European Court of Justice, and on jurisdiction and enforceability of judgments after Brexit, and the impact on contractual continuity, he said. He expressed disappointment at the decision not to issue a No Deal technical notice relating to criminal justice measures.

The Justice Committee heard evidence in October from the heads of the Bar Council and Law Society and an expert in finance and capital markets from Clifford Chance.

Neill said: ‘Evidence we heard during our inquiry and our recent session made the serious impact of this lack of clarity absolutely clear.

‘While I am grateful to the Minister for the assurances we received when she gave evidence last month, significant questions remain, putting the global reputation of our legal services sector, its 300,000 jobs and £26bn contribution to our economy at risk. I hope these issues are given a high priority, and in view of the seriousness of the potential impact, have requested a swift response by 10 December 10—before the meaningful vote in Parliament.’