Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the policy paper entitled UK-EU Summit - Common Understanding, published on 19 May 2025, whether the UK will have a veto over new EU laws that apply under dynamic alignment provisions.

The details of new agreements described in the Common Understanding are subject to negotiation. The Common Understanding is clear that where the UK Government decides to align with EU rules as part of an agreement this will give due regard to the UK’s constitutional and Parliamentary procedures. The UK will be involved, as a sovereign nation outside of the European Union, at an early stage and contribute to the decision-shaping process of European Union legal acts.

The Common Understanding does not provide for oversight of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) within Great Britain or Northern Ireland. Instead it provides that the CJEU will have a limited role in assisting an independent arbitration tribunal responsible for deciding a dispute between the UK and the EU, and only where there is dynamic alignment of laws under any future SPS agreement, ETS linking agreement or an electricity agreement. The CJEU does not rule on the substantive outcome of the dispute - that is a matter for the independent arbitration panel.