UK-EU Renegotiation

Joanna Cherry Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd February 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I think they do make it fairer. As I explained in the statement, it has for years been frustrating that we cannot apply some of the rules for British citizens marrying foreign nationals to EU citizens marrying foreign nationals. The agreement opens the way to ensuring that we can. All sorts of sham marriages, fraudsters, criminals and others who have been getting round our immigration controls will no longer be able to do so.

[Joanna Cherry (Edinburgh South West) (SNP)]

The Sunday Times has reported that, as part of the negotiations and his plan to restore the sovereignty of Parliament, the Prime Minister is seeking to deny UK citizens access to the fundamental rights guaranteed by the EU charter. Does he appreciate that, as stated in the well-known case of MacCormick v. Lord Advocate, the doctrine of the sovereignty of Parliament is a distinctively English principle? In Scotland, the people are sovereign, and they do not want their human rights protections reduced.

[The Prime Minister]

People in our country had fundamental rights long before the EU charter of fundamental rights was even thought of, so we do not need these documents in force in Britain. We have our own Parliament and our own rights, and soon we will have our own British Bill of Rights.