The UK will no longer be under the “direct jurisdiction” of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) after Brexit, a government policy paper will say.
Ministers say they want a “special partnership” with the EU, but it is “neither necessary nor appropriate” for the ECJ to police it.
Critics say the word “direct” leaves room for the ECJ to still play a part.
The pro-EU Open Britain group said the phrase paved the way for a “climbdown” over the jurisdiction of the court.
Speaking on behalf of the group, Labour MP Chuka Umunna said: “Nothing the government says it wants to deliver from Brexit – be it on trade, citizens’ rights, or judicial co-operation – can be achieved without a dispute resolution system involving some role for European judges.”
But Leave campaigner Bernard Jenkin told the Daily Telegraph the court “should not have any role” post-Brexit.
“No non-EU country will be much interested in talking to us about a free trade agreement if we still look hobbled by our relationship to the EU,” added the Conservative MP.
Prime Minister Theresa May has promised to take the UK out of the Luxembourg-based ECJ’s jurisdiction after Brexit.
At her party’s conference in October 2016, she said: “We are not leaving (the EU) only to return to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. That is not going to happen.”
And in January this year, in her Lancaster House speech, she reiterated this, saying: “So we will take back control of our laws and bring an end to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in Britain.”
But the question of how future agreements between the UK and the EU will be enforced is proving contentious.
The policy paper will be released later as ministers argue there are plenty of other ways of resolving disputes without the European courts.-BBC
