PM: Scrap EU laws to help economy

PLANS for a bonfire of EU laws are ‘crucial’ to Britain’s economic recovery, Rishi Sunak said yesterday.

Tory rebels will join forces with Labour today in an effort to water down legislation that could lead to the deletion of more than 4,000 regulations this year.

But Downing Street yesterday said the Prime Minister was committed to the Retained EU Law Bill, which started life under Boris Johnson’s administration.

The PM told the Cabinet removing EU red tape was already creating economic opportunities in areas including geneedited crops and financial services.

He said there was further scope for deregulation in the creative, medical and farming sectors. ‘Developing the best regulatory environment in the UK will be crucial to accelerating our economic recovery and driving growth,’ he said.

No 10 insisted ‘none of this work was about watering down standards’. But environmental campaigners last night warned the proposals could remove vital protections.

And some Tory MPs are set to back an amendment today which would dilute the proposal. Thousands of EU laws were copied and pasted on to the UK statute book in order to save time when Britain left the EU.

Ministers are committed to reviewing all of them by the end of this year and ditching those no longer needed. Experts believe more than 4,000 pieces of legislation could be affected.

No 10 yesterday declined to put a total figure on the exercise but the Prime Minister’s spokesman said there was an ‘ongoing process’ to identify relevant legislation.