EU law essentials

This subtopic provides background reading on core principles of EU law, which are useful for understanding subjects covered in related subtopics, including UK–EU agreements, assimilated law and alignment. It explains the supremacy of EU law and the principal remedies available for breaches of EU law.

Although the UK is no longer an EU Member State, these principles remain helpful in understanding the legal arrangements governing the UK–EU relationship. In particular, they help explain the distinctive domestic effect of the Withdrawal Agreement (WA) including its effective supremacy, the contrasting legal character of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), the principle of supremacy of retained EU law in the 2021–23 period and the reverse principle of supremacy of domestic UK law over assimilated direct legislation.