Читать книгу Occupational Health Law - Diana Kloss - Страница 19

In June 2016 the British people voted on whether they wished to remain in or leave the European Union. By a small majority they voted to leave. By Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon a Member State may decide to withdraw from the Union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements by giving a notice of its intention to withdraw. If a withdrawal agreement is concluded it will leave from the date of the agreement but, failing an agreement, two years after the notification. In R (on the application of Miller) v. Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (2017) the Supreme Court held that the Prime Minister needed the approval of Parliament to trigger Article 50 because it involved repealing the European Communities Act.

Article 50 was triggered in March 2017 to expire on 29 March 2019 but it proved impossible to achieve a withdrawal agreement that could command the approval of a majority in the House of Commons. The period was extended to expire on 31 October 2019, and further extended to 31 January 2020. The agreement negotiated by Mrs May, then the Prime Minister, included a transition period until the end of 2020 during which the UK would remain subject to EU law while issues like trading agreements, customs arrangements, particularly on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, were resolved. In the event that no deal was agreed the UK would leave the EU without any such arrangements being put in place. Mrs May resigned as Prime Minister in the summer of 2019 and the Conservative Party elected Boris Johnson as its new leader. Johnson negotiated a new withdrawal agreement which achieved a majority in the House of Commons but this was followed by a General Election in December 2019 in which the Conservatives were re‐elected with an overall majority. The UK formally left the EU on 31 January 2020, allowing eleven months of transitional negotiations.

Over the nearly 50 years that it was a Member State, much of UK law reflected legislation and case law from Europe. If those laws automatically ceased to have effect on withdrawal day, that would leave an enormous void which would take years to fill. For that reason, arrangements were put in place to preserve legislation and case law derived from EU sources unless or until it was replaced by primary or delegated legislation from the Westminster Parliament or decisions of the Supreme Court. The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, which takes effect the day after the UK leaves the EU, repeals the European Communities Act, places all EU legislation into UK legislation immediately and withdraws devolved powers from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for a period of two years. If there is a transition period, EU law will continue to have effect for the period of the transition. If there is no transition period, EU legislation is frozen at the leaving date, but interpretation of the retained and frozen EU law will be for UK courts rather than the European Court of Justice. Precedents established by that court will only be able to be overruled by the Supreme Court, though at time of writing there is a suggestion that new legislation could give the courts below the power to depart from EU court rulings.

After withdrawal the UK will be free to change or modify any laws derived from the EU, including health and safety, working time, environmental and equal treatment directives. Free movement of labour will no longer apply, so EU citizens will lose the automatic right to enter and work in the UK and UK citizens will lose the equivalent right to migrate to EU Member States. Amendments to UK legislation can, in many cases, be made by statutory instrument rather than primary legislation if they relate to matters of detail rather than fundamental changes of policy. The UK will no longer be bound by EU directives or regulations coming into force after withdrawal and will be able to disregard subsequent decisions of the European Court of Justice, though it is likely that UK courts will regard them as persuasive.