The government has tabled an amendment to the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill (REUL) which would see it pick certain laws to revoke.
As the bill currently stands, almost all REUL is automatically revoked at the end of 2023, unless a statutory instrument is passed to preserve it.
The REUL bill was introduced as a way to end the status of retained EU laws post-Brexit. Government has been working to identify REULs and either preserve, reform or revoke them.
The government department with the most identified REULs is the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) with a total of 1,671. The Department for Transport has the next highest amount with 671.
Of Defra’s REULs, 1,268 remain unchanged, 265 have been amended, 126 repealed, one replaced and one expired.
However, one of the reasons for the tabled amendment is that the identified amount of REULs is much lower than now estimated.
Updating Parliament in a written statement today (Wednesday, May 10), Kemi Badenoch, Secretary of State for Department for Business and Trade, said:
“With the growing volume of REUL being identified, and the risks of legal uncertainty posed by sunsetting instruments made under EU law, it has become clear that the programme was becoming more about reducing legal risk by preserving EU laws than prioritising meaningful reform.
“That is why today I am proposing a new approach: One that will ensure ministers and officials can focus more on reforming REUL, and doing that faster.
“Today the government is tabling an amendment for Lords Report, which will replace the current sunset in the bill with a list of the retained EU laws that we intend to revoke under the bill at the end of 2023.”
Badenoch believes that this will provide certainty for businesses by making it clear which regualtions will be removed instead of highlighting those that would be saved.
“We will retain the vitally important powers in the bill that allow us to continue to amend EU laws, so more complex regulation can still be revoked or reformed after proper assessment and consultation,” she added.
“We will still fully take back control of our laws and end the supremacy and special status of retained EU law by the end of 2023. We will also make our laws fit for UK purposes: Reducing the regulatory burden and controlling the flow of new regulation. We will no longer tie business up in red tape.”
A ‘great win’
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), which previously expressed concern at the REUL bill, has called this reversal a great win for animals.
It believes REUL could have wiped out 44 animal welfare laws which were carried over from the EU – 18 of which it said relate to farm animals.
RSPCA head of public affairs David Bowles said: “The UK Government’s U-turn is a huge relief to us and to all animals in the UK.
“Key animal welfare laws that help make animals’ lives better were facing possible annihilation, with no consultation built-in for external organisations such as the RSPCA to fight to keep specific laws.
“Shockingly, these laws could have vanished into thin air, which would have been an animal tragedy. Not only would it have been a huge backward step for animals but the UK Government would have reneged on its commitment to maintain high standards of animal welfare post-Brexit, because around 80% of all major animal welfare laws in the UK are those carried over from the EU.
“This is a great win for all the UK’s animals.”
