The government has set out a plan to overhaul EU laws copied over after Brexit – a move it says will cut unnecessary “red tape” for businesses.
Downing Street said a “Brexit Freedoms Bill” will change how Parliament can amend or remove thousands of EU-era regulations that remain in force. Boris Johnson said the move would “unleash the benefits of Brexit” and make British business more competitive.
But the plan was criticised by the devolved administrations. Since Brexit the UK has moved away from EU laws in certain areas, including on immigration, payments to farmers, and gene-editing rules for crops.
But the prime minister has been under increasing pressure in recent months from MPs on the right of his party to go further.
Former Brexit minister Lord Frost resigned last year, calling for the government to deliver on the opportunities Brexit presented, adding: “You know my concerns about the current direction of travel.”
In an announcement for the two-year anniversary of the UK’s exit from the EU, No 10 said its new bill would ensure changes can be made more easily.
The government has signalled it wants to move away from EU rules over areas like artificial intelligence, data protection and clinical trials for new medicines.
Downing Street said the changes would build on others since Brexit, which include:
- a move to simplify alcohol duties from 2023 by moving way from EU-wide rules
- scrapping the EU-mandated 5% rate of VAT on tampons
- creating a new UK regime for regulating government support to industry
The UK copied over the laws to smooth its exit from the EU on 31 January 2020, and kept them during a transition period that ended in January 2021.
Since September, the government has been reviewing which of these it wants to keep in place, ditch or amend. Under Brexit withdrawal legislation passed in 2018, retained EU laws have a legal status of their own – and a special process for changing them.
Downing Street said it wanted to make it easier for MPs to change these laws, arguing that removing or changing them could otherwise take years.
It did not specify the provisions in the bill or how it calculated the claim that businesses would save £1bn through the cutting of red tape.
The prime minister said the government’s bill would “further unleash the benefits of Brexit and ensure that businesses can spend more of their money investing, innovating and creating jobs”.
Source: bbc.com
