Last year, judges of the European Court of Justice ruled on 12 UK cases

Europe’s highest court will continue to rule over British legal disputes until a final Brexit deal is agreed, the UK’s most senior judges said.

Courts in the UK will be obliged to refer cases involving unclear EU laws to the European Court of Justice until the country fully leaves the union, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously yesterday in a case relating to a mistake over VAT charges.

The ruling will infuriate Brexiteers who have demanded that EU legal jurisdiction over cases is brought to an end. Lord Hodge, the deputy president of the Supreme Court, said, however, that present case law did not provide a clear answer in a dispute over EU law.

Some lawyers have been lobbying the government not to budge on leaving