Giving maximum legal certainty for businesses, workers and
investors as the UK leaves the European Union is at the heart of
Government plans published today.
The day
after the Prime Minister triggered Article 50 — starting the formal
process of leaving the bloc — a White Paper
on the Great Repeal Bill sets out the Government’s approach
to converting existing EU law into domestic law on the day we leave
the EU.
The paper
sets out how the Great Repeal Bill will deliver a smooth and
orderly exit from the EU, by:
-
repealing the European Communities Act 1972 — returning
power to UK elected representatives and institutions;
-
converting EU law into domestic law at the point of
departure — giving certainty and allowing any changes to be
made in a sensible, timely and considered fashion; and
-
correcting EU law that will not function as it is
converted into UK law — ensuring the statute book operates
effectively.
This
process will ensure that the same rules and laws will apply after
we leave the EU as they did before, from the moment we leave.
After the UK has left the EU and sovereignty has returned to the
UK Parliament, it will be able to decide which elements of law to
keep, change or repeal.
Secretary of State for Exiting the EU
said:
“This White Paper lays out a pragmatic and principled
approach to converting EU law into UK law on the day we leave
the EU — giving businesses, workers and investors as much
certainty as possible.
“It also means the negotiation over our future economic
partnership with the EU will be unlike any other in history,
because we will start from a point of exact equivalence.
"After that, it will be for Parliament to determine what
EU legislation it wants to amend, repeal or improve — finally
ending the supremacy of EU lawmakers.
"Our plan will also give the UK Parliament and the
devolved legislatures the ability to make changes to law where
necessary, so that our legal system continues to operate
correctly on exit day."
The
White Paper, called ‘Legislating for the United Kingdom’s
withdrawal from the European Union’, makes clear that existing
workers’ legal rights will continue to be guaranteed in
law.
A significant proportion of existing EU law will
cease to work properly without changes being
made.
To enable these laws to function properly on exit,
providing certainty and stability, the Government needs to
undertake a programme of legislation to correct the statute book
while Article 50 negotiations take place.
The White Paper sets out how the Government will
look to address those issues through a new time limited
correcting power, to apply before the UK leaves the EU and for a
limited period afterwards.
This will enable changes through secondary
legislation, and ensure there is a smooth transition as EU law
becomes UK law.
Enabling technical changes to be made quickly will
also allow for Parliament to have the appropriate amount of time
to fully scrutinise substantive policy changes that require
primary legislation, such as new Immigration and Customs
Bills.
And the White Paper proposes there is a time limit
on the power to make changes through secondary
legislation.
The Government plans also makes clear that during
this process, no decisions currently taken by the devolved
administrations will be removed from them.
The Government will use this opportunity to make
sure more decisions are devolved — and Ministers in Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland will be given the same powers to fix
broken laws in devolved legislation.
