UK seeks closer civil dispute cross-border collaboration post-Brexit

Britain wants to keep its close cooperation with civil courts in the EU on cases involving divorce, child custody and business disputes after Brexit, the Government has said.

Its proposals aim to provide a framework for cross-border legal disputes after Britain's withdrawal from the European Union in March 2019.

A set of rules will make clear which country's courts will hear a case, which country's laws will be used to resolve it and how judgments in one country will be enforced in another.

The paper cites the "certainty" families, businesses and individuals need when dealing with legal issues within the EU to avoid rival sides launching cases in different countries without an agreement on which ruling is definitive.

Sky's Political Correspondent Lewis Goodall said: "Essentially the document repeats again and again that the UK values its close links and would like to keep the civil legal arrangements after we leave as close as possible to that which we have now but crucially without ECJ oversight.

"It offers no proposals as to how we would achieve this given that doesn't apply to any other country virtually, even those outside of the EU."

Continued judicial co-operation is seen as "crucial" for millions of EU citizens living in the UK and British residents on the continent, as well as businesses trading with EU-based companies.

Justice Minister David Lidington said the arrangements being proposed would "work to the benefit of families and companies all around Europe, not just in Britain".

He told Sky News: "More and more families involve people of different nationalities. In the world of commerce, particularly, with internet trading, there are more and more potential consumer disputes.

"There is a really strong argument as part of this deep and special partnership that we want with our European neighbours in the future to be able to continue with the more intense co-operation on civil judicial matters that have worked well for everybody so far.

"If you are a German wife who is divorcing a British husband you have got a set of rules that say these are the steps that decide whether it is a German court or a British court that sort this out.

"Similar set of procedural rules where there is an argument about child custody, same again when it comes to trying to get redress against a company that you think has diddled you on an online sale.

"It is about putting everybody's citizens first."

This is the latest in a series of policy papers published by David Davis's Department for Exiting the EU, setting out Britain's negotiating plans.

A paper on future relations with the European Court of Justice is expected shortly, ahead of the third round of formal Brexit talks in Brussels next week.