Iain Duncan Smith
Break free from this burden and we have a better, brighter future
By
Tomorrow, Theresa May, the Prime Minister, will hand Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, a letter in which she will write that the United Kingdom invokes Article 50 of the consolidated Treaties and after a maximum period of two years the UK will have left the EU.
After the PM invokes this process, the hard work begins. The Government will have to engage with their EU counterparts in negotiations about our future relationship and whether we owe the EU anything, or they owe us. Yet as they do that, back here in Parliament we will be debating the Great Repeal Bill. This is legislation that repeals the Single European Act and which allows us to transfer our existing structure of EU laws and regulation into UK law.
This is a huge undertaking and will in effect cover pretty much every domestic area. The list stretches from banking and financial services, to agriculture and fisheries and from everyday items such as domestic energy markets through to state aid for businesses.
The list is enormous and affects everything we do or buy. Repealing all that and at the same time passing it into UK law will be a significant task, but it has to be done swiftly.
That is why as the legislation goes through Parliament we should resist the temptation to add or subtract from any of it, otherwise it could get bogged down with endless amendments. We have a limited amount of time and the imperative after all is to ensure we leave with all the legislation complete. We also need to give a sense of continuity and stability to business that as we leave they have time to prepare for change which won’t happen all in a rush.
However, after we leave we should prepare to carry out a root and branch review of the costs of the regulatory burden of its intrusions into the daily lives of the citizens and businesses of the UK.
Recent reports from Open Europe and Civitas found that the total cost to the UK economy of the top 100 most expensive EU regulations is £27.4 billion a year. For example, financial regulations were estimated already to cost £1.7 billion each year through stultified markets. The Common Fisheries policy has cost the UK up to £4.7 billion each year and pushed supermarket prices up. EU procurement and state aid rules restrict the government’s ability to award public works contracts to UK firms, to prop up job-creating firms and to revitalise the economy.
Finally, the Common Agricultural Policy drains upwards of £10 billion each year, both in direct costs and by inflating food prices.
Once the UK has left the EU it will need to be competitive as it seeks new markets and new trade deals.
We will need to set out our stall in time for the next general election to show how by making the UK more competitive we can safeguard jobs and increase the earning capacity of our citizens, whilst still safeguarding their wellbeing and hard earned rights.
Of course this can only be achieved once we have left the EU and tomorrow the Prime Minister takes that irrevocable step towards a better brighter future.