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Remain and Leave clash in final EU referendum debate

Remain and Leave campaigners have clashed at the final major EU referendum debate before polls open on Thursday.

The BBC debate took place in front of 6,000 people at Wembley Arena.

Participants included Boris Johnson for Leave, and his successor as Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, who is backing Remain.

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Fact check: 'European Court is supreme authority in UK'

Credit: BBC

The Court of Justice of the European Union is the supreme legal authority in the UK, according to Boris Johnson.

When it comes to EU law, that is about right, although there are plenty of areas that the EU simply has no role in, according to fact-checking organisation Full Fact, analysing the live BBC referendum debate.

EU laws in areas for which the EU is responsible override any conflicting laws of member countries. The EU court ultimately decides what EU law means.

The European Communities Act, passed by Parliament in 1972, accepted the supremacy of EU law. That principle has also been endorsed by the UK courts.

But that won’t apply much in areas such as welfare and social security, education, criminal law, family law and the NHS, where the direct influence of the EU is far more limited.

Our own Supreme Court makes plenty of decisions without any guidance from the EU court in Luxembourg.

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