Vote on bill to avoid Brexit chaos

Customs check could cost 4 bln pounds a year: study

LONDON, Sept 11, (AFP): MPs hold their first vote Monday on a bill to end Britain’s membership of the EU, which ministers say will avoid a “chaotic” Brexit but has been condemned as an unprecedented power grab.

The legislation would repeal on Brexit day the 1972 law through which Britain joined the bloc, transferring in bulk around 12,000 existing EU regulations onto the British statute books.

It is the next step in implementing last year’s historic referendum vote to leave the EU, after Prime Minister Theresa May formally notified Brussels of Britain’s withdrawal in March. “Businesses and individuals need reassurance that there will be no unexpected changes to our laws after exit day and that is exactly what the Repeal Bill provides,” Brexit Secretary David Davis said. He added: “A vote against this bill is a vote for a chaotic exit from the European Union.”

May’s spokesman told reporters on Monday: “We encourage all MPs to support it”. The main opposition Labour party has vowed to try to defeat the bill, however, arguing that its provisions to smooth the transfer of EU laws represent an unacceptable expansion of executive power.

Meanwhile, the introduction of postBrexit customs checks could cost traders more than 4 billion pounds ($5.28 billion) a year, according to a think tank report released on Monday.

In its report Implementing Brexit: Customs, the Institute for Government said the government needed to offer as much certainty as possible to business and help them plan for changes to customs.