Britain could still be subject to some rulings by the European Court of Justice after Brexit, after an apparent climbdown by Theresa May.

A Government blueprint on how the UK will treat rulings by the court will say its "direct jurisdiction" will end when Britain leaves the EU.

That appears to fall short of the Prime Minister's pledge in her Lancaster House speech on Brexit in January and will anger hardline Tory Brexiteers.

The Government says it is publishing "guiding principles as it builds towards ending the direct jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the UK".

According to the Government, the document from Brexit Secretary David Davis' department will:


:: Reinforce the message that after Brexit, the UK will take back control of its laws;



:: Make it clear that it is not necessary or appropriate for the CJEU to have direct jurisdiction over a non-member state and say that such an arrangement would be unprecedented;



:: Provide examples of existing ways of resolving disputes in international agreements, without the CJEU having direct jurisdiction; and



:: Outline some guiding principles behind the UK's approach, including maximising certainty for individuals and businesses and continuing to respect our international legal obligations.

The Court of Justice of the European Union, or CJEU, is the EU's judicial arm, which includes the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

Raab: No climbdown over Brexit law

Ahead of the blueprint's publication, Justice minister Dominic Raab insisted that there was "no climbdown, no confusion".

"We're leaving the EU, which means we'll take back control over our laws and end the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. It will not decide any disputes between the EU and the UK," he told Sky News.

He said the UK was proposing an arbitration process that would guarantee that "both sides have confidence in that process". As EU and UK law diverge after Brexit, it will make sense for the UK to keep "half an eye" on what the EU is doing and vice versa, he said.

"We wouldn't expect the UK Supreme Court to decide disputes between the UK and the EU any more than we can allow the ECJ to decide those disputes," he said.

17 August: May on progress of Brexit negotiations

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer MP says the new document contradicts the "red line" on the European Court of Justice in the PM's Lancaster House speech.

"Any final deal with the EU that protects jobs and the economy will require an effective and robust dispute resolution mechanism," he said.

"This will inevitably involve some form of independent court.

"The Prime Minister's ideological insistence that there can be no future role whatsoever for the ECJ or any similar court-like body risks preventing the deal Britain needs.

In her Lancaster House speech, the PM declared: "We will not have truly left the European Union if we are not in control of our own laws."

Image: Keir Starmer says the new document contradicts the 'red line' on the ECJ set by the PM

And at the Tory conference last October, she spoke of a "Britain in which we pass our own laws and govern ourselves".

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said the Government's position amounted to a "sensible and long overdue climbdown" by the Prime Minister, whose Brexit red lines were "becoming more blurred by the day".

Labour MP Chuka Umunna, a leading supporter of the Open Britain campaign against a hard Brexit, said: "It appears that the Government realises that European judges will have some say over what happens in Britain, whether we are in the single market or not.

"So why are they still planning to damage our economy by taking us out of the single market when doing so will not really take back control of our laws?"