Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their response to the call in the report by the House of Lords Justice Sub-Committee of the Select Committee on the EU Brexit: justice for families, individuals and businesses? (7th Report, Session 2016–17, HL Paper 134) for them to publish a coherent plan for addressing the post-Brexit application of the so-called Brussels regime.

The Government published its future partnership paper on cross-border civil judicial cooperation on 22 August 2017. This set out that an effective framework of civil judicial cooperation is an important part of the deep and special partnership we want to establish with the EU. The Government will therefore seek an agreement with the EU that allows for close and comprehensive cross-border civil judicial cooperation on a reciprocal basis, which reflects closely the substantive principles of cooperation under the current EU framework.

The paper also set out our intention to continue participation in those Hague Conventions we currently participate in by virtue of our membership of the EU, and to continue to participate in the Lugano Convention that, by virtue of our membership of the EU, forms the basis for the UK’s civil judicial cooperation with Norway, Iceland and Switzerland.