May is accused by peers of misquoting a parliamentary committee

THERESA MAY has been accused by senior peers of misquoting a parliamentary committee to justify granting the Government “unprecedented and extraordinary” powers in the Brexit repeal Bill.

The House of Lords Constitution Committee said the legislation, formally known as the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill, “weaves a tapestry of delegated powers that are breathtaking in terms of both their scope and potency”.

Committee chairwoman Baroness Taylor of Bolton accused Ministers of misquoting and ignoring a previous report by the senior peers, which called for tougher parliamentary oversight of so-called “delegated powers”.

It comes after Mrs May used Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday to brush off accusations from Tory Remainer Anna Soubry that the Bill amounted to an “unprecedented and unnecessary Government power-grab”.

The PM insisted the so-called Henry VIII powers to make changes to EU laws as they are repatriated using secondary legislation, and without full parliamentary scrutiny, were required to “make corrections” so Britain can leave the EU in an orderly manner. She also claimed the approach had been “endorsed by the House of Lords Constitution Committee”, apparently referring to a report from earlier this year.

But releasing a new interim committee report on the Bill, Lady Taylor said: “The EU (Withdrawal) Bill represents an extraordinary transfer of legal powers from Parliament to the Government, without the additional oversight we recommended. We believe this will create very real difficulties for Parliament in fulfilling its constitutional role to scrutinise this Bill.”