Learning to let go – the Charter of Fundamental Rights after Brexit

The UK Government’s proposal that the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU (the Charter) will not be converted into UK law following Brexit (clause 5(4) of the EU Withdrawal Bill) has generated strong reaction from opposition parties. The Labour party has indicated that it considers this to be a ‘red-line’ issue, and that it will not support a bill that does not incorporate the charter into UK law. Keir Starmer, the Shadow Brexit Secretary, had earlier indicated that Labour would only support a deal which met its ‘six tests’, one of which was the requirement that such a deal would ‘defend rights and protections and prevent a race to the bottom’.

In this blog entry I will argued, first, that there is no necessary connection between, on the one hand, incorporating the Charter into UK law and on the other, defending rights and protections of individuals in the UK following Brexit, and second, that upholding a commitment to be bound by the Charter post-Brexit is problematic from a democratic legitimacy perspective.