MP: Bill allows Britain to capitalise on Brexit
This afternoon the Commons is considering the Lords Amendments to the Retained EU Law Bill. When we left the EU in January 2020, all EU law was converted into domestic law in order to give people and businesses legal certainty. The Government wishes to have the ability to delete from the Statute Book these retained EU laws that it does not want, and this Bill puts this into effect.
The Government’s original intention was to repeal all EU retained law by the end of this year, but it recently announced that it was slowing this approach to ensure important legislation was not inadvertently repealed. This Bill enables this. All in all, about half of retained EU law has already been repealed or reformed, or is imminently about to be.
Some amendments want all retained EU law to continue to be scrapped by year-end, while others want greater procedural checks on those EU laws being revoked.
In the Chamber, John said,
“I suggest to the Minister that the Government’s approach is not only sound, but robust. We need to be careful to ensure to repeal EU law that we do not want only after careful scrutiny, and not in haste when errors can be made, particularly as we have already repealed around half of all EU retained law courtesy of legislation both past and present.”
The Minister, Michael Tomlinson MP, said the principle behind the Bill which John has espoused is absolutely right.
John said afterwards,
“This Bill is an important part of the Brexit process, removing layers of EU law which either serve no useful purpose or which hinder progress. In politics as in life, hasty decisions can often lead to error. Careful scrutiny is required, as I am wary of actions which may give Brexit’s critics lazy reasons to discredit or oppose it.”
“This bedding down of Brexit further enables Britain to capitalise on the many benefits of leaving the EU, and the Government has my full support.”
