The UK must commit to social rights after Brexit

Current Premonition:

There are more than three million European Union citizens living in the UK and more than one million UK nationals living in EU countries. The ongoing Brexit negotiations put the rights of more than four million people at stake. The process of Britain’s exit from the EU started 8 months ago. Now that the negotiations have moved on to the second phase, the EU citizens living in Britain and British citizens residing in Europe have started to get some certainty about their future. Groups advocating for the rights of EU and UK citizens are pressurizing the government to reach a swift agreement between the UK and the EU so that the people can continue their lives without the fear of uncertainty.

Loss of EU protection:

The UK citizens do enjoy a lot of social rights –which include right to education, work, health, social security and an appropriate standard of living –because of their EU membership. Protection of workers from discrimination, maternity leave rights, equal pay for equal work and equal access to state pensions are some of the privileges that British citizens had enjoyed as a member of the EU. Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union puts many of these rights in jeopardy. British citizens will lose all these protections after Brexit day. The British government will have complete authority to remove the standards that currently protect the British people.

What can be done to safeguard those rights?

To be able to tackle these problems, the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee and former High Court judge Michael Tugendhat has advocated that the courts of the United Kingdom should have the authority to declare and ignore an act of parliament if it is contrary to the EU human rights principle or the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. The courts should have the power to disregard decisions of the parliament if they contradict the Equality Act of 2010. The parliament, however, would not be obliged to appease their demands, but such a declaration would send a strong and clear message that the people of the UK will not tolerate this opprobrious attack on their social rights.

Seeking continuity:

The British Prime Minister Theresa May stated that all EU nationals in the UK would be able to apply for ‘settled status’ before the cutoff date, that is the date of Brexit till the 29^th of March, 2019.  The UK courts will provide legal assurance for the EU citizens, and the European Court of Justice will continue to oversee the rights of EU citizens in the UK for eight years after this divorce deal.