British govt sets out draft law on Brexit, Labour vows to seek amendments

The British government on Thursday published a draft law that would formally put an end to Britain’s membership of the European Union, as a top offi cial warned the country was unprepared for Brexit in less than two years’ time.

The new bill will repeal the 1972 law in which Britain became an EU member and convert an estimated 12,000 existing EU regulations into British law, ending the supremacy of EU law in Britain.

“This bill means that we will be able to exit the European Union with maximum certainty, continuity and control,” Brexit Secretary David Davis said in a statement.

But Prime Minister Theresa May is braced for a battle over the bill, which also gives ministers powers to amend the EU laws as they are transferred without full parliamentary scrutiny.

These so- called “Henry VIII” powers will be limited for two years, but opposition parties have warned they will not allow the government to use the bill to push through policy changes.

May’s Conservative Party lost its majority in the June 8 election, leaving it dependent on the small Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party to win votes in parliament.

The prime minister, who on Thursday marks one year since taking offi ce after last year’s referendum to leave the EU, remains vulnerable and questions remain over how long she can stay.

As the bill was published, opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was in Brussels to off er his own Brexit vision to EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier.

May’s government began the twoyear withdrawal process on March 29, setting Britain on an uncharted journey.

Extricating Britain from four decades of membership of the bloc is no small task: the new European Union ( Withdrawal) Bill is one of eight Brexit bills the government will introduce.

But Labour’s Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer warned his party would not support the legislation as it stood.

“We have very serious issues with the government’s approach, and unless the government addresses those issues, we will not be supporting the bill,” he told the Guardian.

As well as concerns about the expansion of executive power, Labour fears an erosion of basic and workers’ rights and plans to submit amendments when the bill is debated in the autumn.

“This will be hell,” added Tim Farron, leader of the pro- European Liberal Democrats.