Blocks on barring criminals to be axed

EU rules blamed for making it harder to keep out foreign criminals and terror suspects are to be axed as part of a bid to restore sovereignty to the UK.

Brexit Secretary David Davis yesterday told MPs the vast majority of EU laws would be transferred to the statute book in a Great Repeal Bill.

But he said ministers would ditch the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which has been blamed for hampering the fight against crime and terrorism.

Tory MPs said it was the first dividend from the vote to leave the EU. But Labour said it would oppose the move.

The decision was included in a Government White Paper on the Great Repeal Bill which will repeal the European Communities Act. Yesterday it emerged that:

Ministers will use ‘Henry VIII’ powers to fast-track up to 1,000 legal changes through Parliament with minimal scrutiny;

Britain’s Supreme Court will win the right to overturn judgments of the European Court of Justice in this country;

The Government faces months of running battles in Parliament as it attempts to push through legislation in areas such as immigration and customs;

MPs will not get a specific vote on the Prime Minister’s decision to take the UK out of the EU’s single market;

Experts warned the scale of the legislative challenge could take ten years, although ministers say they are confident they can push it through in two;

Tory MPs urged ministers to go further by allowing Parliament to axe mountains of ‘ghastly’ EU laws immediately.

The Charter of Fundamental Rights was signed up to by Tony Blair in 2000 and contains 50 human rights.

Theresa May has said she is ‘no fan of the charter’, and a Government source last night described it as ‘an increasing irritant’.

Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer said Labour would oppose the bid to ditch the Charter unless ministers guaranteed that ‘all substantial rights’ in it will be converted into domestic law.