Ministers blocked from using Henry VIII powers

one negotiations interim deal to a packed House of Commons yesterday In a significant climb-down on its flagship Brexit bill, the UK government has accepted changes that will give MPS greater oversight over ministers’ powers.

An amendment to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill tabled by the cross-party Commons Procedure Committee will stop ministers simply signing changes into law through so-called Henry VIII powers.

Instead, a new “sifting committee” of backbench MPS will be created to decide whether statutory instruments proposed by ministers require a vote in the Commons.

The Bill, which is going through Parliament, will transpose all relevant EU law onto the UK statute book at the point of Brexit to make sure there are no gaps left in the legal framework as a result of withdrawal. It had been proposed to allow ministers to make thousands of minor alterations to the EU lawbook, such as replacing the name of European regulators with their UK equivalent, by the use of statutory instruments that do not automatically require debate and votes in Parliament.

But this sparked widespread opposition from MPS concerned that it could give ministers an opportunity to sneak through changes to the law without scrutiny, which could impact on people’s lives.

Theresa May’s official spokesman said the government would accept the procedure committee’s amendment, which was due to come up for debate today and a vote tomorrow. A report setting out the proposals was backed unanimously by Conservative, Labour and SNP committee members.