The House of Lords has finally caved in and ended its stand-off with the Government over its plans to scrap swathes of EU laws.
The Retained EU Law (REUL) Bill had been in a state of parliamentary ‘ping pong’ for weeks, with the bill going back and forth between the Commons and the Lords with neither side backing down.
The Lords had been focussing on pushing for ‘non-regression’ of EU environmental rules, and to give Parliament greater say in deciding which EU laws can be revoked or amended, in a challenge to the power of the Government.
Last night the upper chamber, which has often been accused of attempting to frustrate or block Brexit in the past, finally caved in and passed the bill.
Government minister Lord Callanan spent the afternoon urging peers to withdraw their amendments to the Bill and end the back-and-forth between the Commons.
At one point he had to remind the Lords that given they are unelected they couldn’t afford to frustrate the bill much more.
He said: “The reality is the Commons has considered this bill once more and have come to the same conclusions as they did previously, again with significant majorities”.
“This is now the third time that they have made their will clear. They are the elected House and they have been firm in their position.
“We have to take that into account, along with their democratic legitimacy.”
One of the main arguments was over EU environmental protections, which some Lords and lobbyists had wanted to see enshrined in a ‘non-regression’ clause, meaning the UK couldn’t weaken protections.
However the Government’s minister on duty explained that given ‘non-regression’ is so ambiguous, putting it in the bill would mean all changes to environmental regulations could be challenged in the courts, meaning a shift in politics from Parliament to the judiciary.
“In effect, we would be transferring the legislative process from Parliament to the courts, on every individual regulation.
“Although we are content to say that we will not row back on environmental protections, that is the reason we are unwilling to see such a phrase placed in primary legislation.
“I am sure some of the environmental lobbyists and their lawyers would be very happy about all the work it would generate for them if we were to do so, but this is not the way to make legislation.”
With the Lords’ amendments dropped, the bill will now head off for Royal Assent and become law.
While the move could be seen as a Brexit victory, the Government has already come under fire for watering the bill down significantly.
Kemi Badenoch, the trade and business secretary, abolished Government plans to ‘sunset’ all EU-derived and retained domestic legislation on 31 December 2023, which would have in effect abolished all laws passed down from the EU while we were members.
The Government is now committed to revoking just 600 pieces of retained EU law, legislation the European Scrutiny Committee slammed as “trivial, obsolete and are not legally and/or politically important.”
