Immigration and customs policy will be the subject of a specific acts of parliament, once the process of extricating UK law from the EU law begins, according to a newly published White Paper on the Great Repeal Bill.

The document outlines the process by which EU law will be shifted into UK law after the UK leaves the European Union and EU laws will no longer formally apply.

It states that the government will "introduce a customs bill to establish a framework to implement a UK customs regime."

It makes clear that "a UK customs regime cannot be met merely by incorporating EU law" which all but confirms what the Prime Minister has already said, that the UK will leave the EU’s customs union, which it would be required to do in order to strike free trade deals with other EU countries.

Thousands of EU laws and regulations will be replaced by statutory instrument, and as such will not be subject to a parliamentary vote, but the document says the customs requirements "would benefit from the intensive parliamentary scrutiny given to primary legislation."

It says the immigration bill will be done to make sure "nothing will change for any EU citizen, whether already resident in the UK or moving from the EU, without Parliament’s approval."

The White Paper stops short of naming which other policy areas will be subject to a full Act of Parliament, but fisheries, agriculture, trade and sanctions have all been suggested.