Senedd refuses consent for UK’s blanket ditching of EU laws
BILL CONDEMNED AS ‘RECKLESS AND IRRESPONSIBLE’
THE Senedd has voted to refuse consent for the UK Government’s Retained EU Law Bill, saying it is “reckless and irresponsible”.
The Retained EU Law Bill will automatically revoke all retained EU law at the end of 2023 unless it is otherwise restated or reformed. This is known as the sunset mechanism.
But on Tuesday evening last week, Welsh ministers refused to offer their support and said the proposed legislation threatens food standards, environmental protections, workers’ rights, and business and consumer certainty.
The bill would require the government to review every piece of retained EU law by the end of the year and retain or reform it by the end of the year or it will be deleted.
It would mean more than 2,400 pieces of former EU law that were converted into domestic legislation as part of the EU exit process would be either repealed or replaced. Many, if not most, of these laws would drop off the UK statute book by the end of this year if no action is taken.
Mick Antoniw, the Welsh Government’s Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution, said the Senedd vote “sent a loud and clear message”.
He added: “The Retained EU Law Bill is bad for Wales and should be withdrawn by the UK Government. The bill would change a raft of legal standards without any clear idea of the implications of doing so.
“This is a reckless and irresponsible approach to vital standards that improve people’s quality of life.
“It would also give UK Government ministers authority to legislate in devolved areas.
“Both the Senedd and the Scottish Parliament have both been clear that this is an unacceptable encroachment on the democratically established devolution settlement.”
Earlier this year, some senior Conservatives backed an amendment to the bill designed to give MPs greater oversight over the potential scrapping of the thousands of EU laws.
Although it’s proving time consuming to sift through the volume of Brussels-made regulations that need to be replaced, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman told reporters there were “no plans to change the 2023 sunset deadline” that is written into the bill earlier this year. He said Rishi Sunak wanted EU laws repealed “as quickly as possible” to ensure Britain was run by “our own rules”.
Legislative Consent Motion votes are held when the UK Government wishes to legislate on a subject matter which is devolved.
Constitutional convention requires the Senedd to give consent to the legislation before it can be passed in Westminster. The Senedd has joined the Scottish Parliament in voting to withhold consent for the Retained EU Law Bill. The bill is currently at report stage in the House of Lords.