The retained EU law bill has started its parliamentary progress in the House of Commons. The bill is intended to remove all retained EU law, and to update UK legislation to incorporate aspects that we want to keep. A clause in the bill sets out that any retained EU law still in effect by the end of 2023 will automatically fall at that point, though there is provision to extend this deadline if required.
Like much of civil society we are extremely concerned about this legislation and the potential adverse effects of using a blunt instrument and broad powers, unintended or otherwise. The government has identified 2,500 pieces of retained EU law, but it is generally believed that this is far from comprehensive and there are significant provisions that have not been accounted for in this process. The government’s deadline is very challenging, and may well lead to significant legal uncertainty across sectors.
However, even if there was a more realistic timeframe, the bill still contains sweeping powers to change legislation, which could be used to weaken rights and protections in a number of areas including environmental standards and human rights, with limited parliamentary scrutiny. We think the government needs to fundamentally rethink the approach it is taking to assimilating retained EU law into domestic law.