26 June 2017
Vara backs PM on offer to EU citizens resident in UK

Shailesh Vara rejects EU demands that EU law govern EU citizens resident in the UK and highlights the fact that many companies in the EU and across the world use English and Welsh law contract law.

Mr Shailesh Vara (North West Cambridgeshire) (Con)

When EU leaders say that they want EU laws to prevail over their citizens in the UK, what they are effectively saying is that they do not trust our judicial system. When the Prime Minister next meets her EU counterparts, may I suggest that she gently reminds them that many of the companies in their own countries—the companies that drive their economies—actually use English and Welsh contract law, which is enforced in our courts by our judges, and the reason why they use English and Welsh law is that, globally, our judicial system commands greater respect than the judicial systems of Germany, France, Italy and so on?

The Prime Minister

My hon. Friend makes an extremely good point, and the nub of it is that our courts are respected around the world. As he says, people choose to use our law because they respect our courts, and they also respect the validity of our law. It is important that citizens in the UK are under the jurisdiction of our courts.

 

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