LONDON – British lawmakers have backed controversial government plans to scrap all remaining EU laws on the statute books by the end of the year, despite resistance from a handful of Conservative rebels.
EU law bill upheld The bill passed by 59 votes in the House of Commons at the third reading stage on Wednesday. Several attempts by opposition and Conservative MPs to amend the bill easily failed. The legislation will now move to the House of Lords, where anti-Brexit peers are expected to face opposition from a large constituency of the upper house.
The bill requires all UK government departments to either repeal or reform all EU-derived legislation – said to be around 4,000 pieces of legislation – that remained on UK books after Brexit. They would have to do so by the end of this year — a deadline branded unrealistic by some critics of the bill.
Originally spearheaded by then PM Boris Johnson, the bill was supported by both his successor Liz Truss and current PM Rishi Sunak, whose spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday that Sunak is sticking with the bill and its deadline.
But the plans have alarmed many lawmakers, business groups and civil servants about the rush to repeal, the lack of government capacity to run a proper review, and the possibility of key laws effectively being scrapped by accident.
The EU-derived rules cover a wide range of areas in UK law, including workers’ rights and environmental policy.
A group of Tory rebels, among them former Brexit secretary David Davis, have also raised concerns that the bill would rob parliament of the opportunity to scrutinize the changes.
“It is not democratic,” Davies told the Commons. “But it’s also going to be inefficient and possibly inefficient.”
Davies was one of four Tory MPs who rebelled against the government by voting for an amendment from Labor MP Stella Creasy that would have given Parliament the power to vote on any EU legislation the government sought to repeal. had decided. That amendment was defeated by 53 votes.
No Tory MP was recorded as voting against the unamended bill.