Brexit: The Human Dimension and Demos
| Author | Scott Crosby |
| Published date | 01 September 2016 |
| Date | 01 September 2016 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/203228441600700301 |
| Subject Matter | Editorial |
New Journal of Eu ropean Crimina l Law, Vol. 7, Issue 3, 2016 261
EDITORIAL
BREXIT
e Human Dimension and Demos
S C
According to UK Government gures there are 3 million persons i n the UK who
come from other Member States. Should the U K exit the EU all these people wi ll lose
their right under EU law to remain . ey may be a llowed to stay by application of UK
law, but not only would that involve a change in status, but it would also mean a loss
of certainty, because a change of law would su ce for authorisation to stay being
revoked. ere would be no recourse to the Cour t of Justice of the EU, because the UK
would have removed itself from the jurisd iction. Nor would there be much protection
under European human r ights law, because the UK has not put such matters i nto the
jurisdiction of the Eu ropean Court of Human Rights, si nce it is not party to Protocol
4 which prohibits the collect ive expulsion of aliens nor to Protocol 7 prohibiting the
arbitrary ex pulsion of individual aliens. ere would be little protect ion from the UK
courts either because t hey do not have the power to overturn legislation, which is why
UK law does not recognise fu ndamental rights.
If the UK did expe l the citizens of EU Member States on its seceding f rom the EU,
it might transpire that other Member States would send the British living on their
territory back to the UK. ere are some 2.2 million British people in this category.
Currently they are there as of right. Should Brexit take place t hey, just like their
counterparts i n the UK, would be dependent on government policy and the law of the
host state and would thus have a much less secure residence basis than currently
available under EU law.
Brexit would then make possible in law a siz eable population transfer extending
potentially to 5.2 mi llion people, or the size of Scotland in terms of in habitants.
Of course this may not ever happen. Reason may preva il. e point is, t hough, that
what was impossible until t he result of the UK referendum on EU membership was
announced, has now become possible. Indeed not only has a population exchange
become possible, it has in fact become an issue for the negotiators of a withdrawal
treaty pu rsuant to Ar ticle50 TEU, members of the government hav ing stated tha t the
right of non British EU citizens to rema in in the UK would depend on what other
Member States decided to do with t he British EU citizens in their midst .
is means, of course, that people are or risk being t reated, not as human beings
but as factors of negotiation, mere things hav ing undergone a sort of reductio ad rem .
To continue reading
Request your trial