Government publishes first three Brexit policy position papers

Ahead of the second round of Brexit negotiations next week, the government has published three position papers outlining how it plans to negotiate on key issues and how it plans to work with the European Union after parting company with the bloc.

The three position papers, which were released on the same day as the repeal bill that will transpose all EU law into the UK statute books, cover "nuclear materials and safeguards issues", "ongoing union judicial and administrative proceedings", and "privileges and immunities", which will be discussed in the next round of Brexit talks.

The first paper covers the UK's departure from the Euratom treaty, which has been oppossed on both sides of Parliament.

In the paper the government stated that the UK wants to "continue working closely with the Euratom Community to help ensure a smooth and orderly exit and to pave the way for a future relationship that benefits the UK and the remaining 27 Member States" and will look to agree nuclear cooperation agreements with key states including the USA, Canada, Australia and Japan.

As for judicial matters, the paper sets out the desire to ensure a smooth and orderly end to the jurisdiction of the CJEU in the UK, as there is likely to be a small number of cases still pending at the EU Court of Justice by the Brexit deadline in 2019.

The UK’s position paper says that the CJEU should not be allowed to rule on UK cases which were not ​before the court on the day the UK leaves the EU, even where the facts of the case occurred before withdrawal.

"The UK’s approach reflects that we are leaving the EU and the jurisdiction of the CJEU will end — and that we will give as much certainty as possible to those who find their cases before the court at the point of withdrawal," the government said in a statement on Thursday.

Brexit Secretary David Davis said the papers demonstrated how "deciding the shape of our future partnership with the EU is inextricably linked with our withdrawal talks".

"While we’re leaving the EU we are not leaving Europe, and we want to continue cooperating with our friends and neighbours on issues of mutual importance including nuclear safeguards," he said.

"By ending the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union UK courts will be supreme once more. Our sensible approach to pending cases means there would be a smooth and orderly transition to when the court no longer has jurisdiction in the UK."

So far the EU has published nine papers on its positions and earlier in the week, chief negotiator Michel Barnier said his team needed a British response to each issue to move forward.

Barnier also told the UK that the "clock is ticking" to reach a Brexit agreement, and reiterated that financial obligations known as the 'divorce bill' will need to be paid.