“It’s more complicated than both sides paint it”Daniel Gayne

In a campaign which has centred on the two key issues of immigration and the economy, Varsity looks what Brexit would look like in the context of issues close to the hearts of students.

According to a recent survey conducted by online discount site MyVoucherCodes – which surveyed over 2,500 students – concerns about travelling, studying, and gaining work in Europe were the first, second and fifth most significant for students.

Varsity spoke to the Professor of EU law and Employment Law at Trinity College, Catherine Barnard, to find out what would be in store for students in the event of a Brexit vote.

Fundamentally, it comes down to what kind of relationship the UK negotiates with the EU afterwards. An exit from the EU would be handled under Article 50 of the Treaty on the European Union. This does not specify what kind of relationship the EU has with the leaving party, or even that they must have a relationship at all.

A House of Lords Select Committee recently announced that this was the only route for Britain to leave the EU. This considered, there are three major possibilities for a future relationship with Europe. The first is the so-called ‘Norwegian model’, which would entail joining the European Economic Area (EEA).

Barnard calls this option ‘EU lite’. This deal would undercut many of the reclamations of sovereignty touted by the Leave campaign. While the UK would get exclusions from agriculture and fisheries policies, many EU regulations would remain, as would the free movement of labour. This means that UK students would likely have visa-free travel and the ability to work where they want in Europe.

The alternative is either the ‘Canadian model’, where the UK would negotiate a trade deal with the EU, or the ‘Swiss model’, where the UK would establish a series of bilateral agreements with EU nations. In both instances, visa control is officially delegated to the member states, but increasingly there are directives regulating third country nationals at the EU level. Barnard suggested that attempts by the UK to limit visas to specific countries could potentially trigger a Europe-wide response. She also noted that the EU would be strongly against the UK attempting to follow the Swiss route.

Another concern listed by students was workers’ rights. We asked Catherine Barnard if the Remain campaign was scaremongering with its argument of working protections, and she said that “it’s more complicated than both sides paint it”.

To a certain extent, changes to workers’ rights depends on the constitutional question of what happens to EU law after a Brexit vote. Asked if leaving the EU would mean the current catalogue of EU laws and regulations being struck off the books, Barnard said: “we don’t know the answer”, but that pragmatically, they would probably remain at first.

Barnard also explained the precise situation in relation to EU protections of workers’ rights.

The UK has had protections against discrimination since the 1970s, but the EU has extended these protections to cover religion, age, and sexuality. In Barnard’s words, “EU law supplements domestic law”.

The EU has also introduced some ‘floor of rights’ legislation, for example the Working Time Directive. This addresses an area in which, historically, Britain has had weak protections, but the previous coalition government raised British standards above the EU ‘floor’. On the other hand, minimum wages, strike law, and tribunals are all currently domestic matters.