Davis tells MPs: Back Brexit Bill or face chaos

Ensuring our laws work well after we leave the EU is more important than political point-scoring

DAVID DAVIS today dismisses criticism of his plan for updating the legal system after Brexit as “vacuous” and warns that businesses will face “chaos” without the changes.

The Brexit Secretary uses an article in The Sunday Telegraph to warn that consumer and investor confidence will crumble if a crunch vote in Parliament is not won tomorrow.

He urges all MPs to back the EU (Withdrawal) Bill and dismisses claims that ministers are overseeing a “power grab” to bring about the changes. “This Bill is too important for political point-scoring,” he writes.

‘Empty vessels make the most noise”, the saying goes. And one thing’s for sure — this week has been a noisy one. Accusations of a power grab have flown around Westminster as the Repeal Bill entered its Second Reading. And fantastical conspiracies about “watering down” workers’ rights, and health and safety legislation, led to heated debates over the airwaves.

Those vacuous charges – made by opposition members who should know better – do not reflect the realities that underpin the Government’s concerted effort to prepare the country for the day we leave the EU. Because without this Bill the country’s statute book simply would not work after Brexit – causing chaos for businesses, consumers and investors right across the UK. By converting EU law into UK law, wherever practical, at the point we leave, the Repeal Bill offers legal continuity. And it delivers a legal guarantee that the UK can set its own laws after we leave, outside the control of the European Court of Justice. In essence it delivers what the British people voted for – control over our own laws.

But taking control of our laws does not mean everything needs to change overnight. In fact, the approach we have taken does the very opposite of that. Our plan is to simply transfer EU law into UK law. After that, Parliament can alter and amend it as it sees fit. It is the pragmatic and sensible thing to do.

That approach is not just in the interest of the UK, it is also in the interest of the European Union. It will put us in a unique and unprecedented position where both sides will start from a point of equivalence – the best possible launchpad for our future partnership with the European Union. With the negotiations delivering steady progress on issues like citizens’ rights and Ireland, this is not a moment to go backwards.

Of course, not every European law will work perfectly when it is converted into UK law. Some will not make sense in domestic law, so transferring them unamended would be impractical or nonsensical. Such laws may refer to EU institutions or procedures, and those references will need to be removed and replaced. That is why the Repeal Bill contains powers to make corrections to the law, to ensure that all of our laws continue to operate effectively.

But those powers do not allow the Government to bypass Parliament. Far from it; Parliament will be able to scrutinise changes through secondary legislation, as it does all the time. And for any substantive policy change, we will pass primary legislation in the series of upcoming Bills that were announced in this year’s Queen’s Speech, from immigration to trade. And then, after Brexit, our laws will be made in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.

I started the debate on Tuesday by asking MPs from all sides of the political spectrum to work with the Government, so that we can get this process right.

Why? Because this Bill is too important for political point-scoring. The people of the United Kingdom voted in their millions to leave the European Union, and we must ensure that as we exit, we do so in the smoothest way possible.

My offer remains open – if there are any rights missing in this Bill, bring them to my attention and I will add them in. That offer remains open and we will listen.

But what comes back from the Labour Party is not constructive suggestion, an alternative plan for taking control of our laws, but moan, complaint and gripe.

This is not about government ministers watering down people’s rights or changing EU laws that they don’t like. So any broad attempt to block the Bill, without any sense of a viable alternative is simply an attempt to thwart the democratic process.

So, as my colleagues in the House of Commons proceed through the voting lobbies tomorrow, they must remember what they are voting for.

They are not voting on whether or not we leave the EU. That decision was made by the British people last June. Nor are they voting for the terms of our exit. Those will be agreed as we proceed through our negotiations with the EU.

What they are voting on is how we leave: whether our withdrawal is smooth and orderly, or chaotic and uncertain.