May 11, 2023Government scrap arbitrary deadlines of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill which planned to end EU-era laws at the end of the year.
Under the Bill, the Government were committed to repealing or replacing over 4,000 pieces of law taken from the UK’s previous membership of the EU bloc by December 2023.
Ministers on Wednesday (10 May) confirmed that they were scrapping the bill’s “sunset clause” and that the mass deletion would not go ahead as planned.
Critics of the bill had voiced concerns that it could lead to important legislation disappearing.
The climbdown is likely to trigger anger from Brexit-backing Conservative MPs and members of the House of Lords.
The Retained EU Law (REUL) Bill was introduced under Liz Truss and Jacob Rees-Mogg with Rees-Mogg calling this move an “admission of administrative failure”, as reported by the BBC.
It showed an “inability of Whitehall to do the necessary work and an incapability of ministers to push this through their own departments,” he added.
EU-derived health and safety regulations support the Health and Safety at Work Act, including the ‘six pack’ regulations, covering health and safety at work, manual handling operations, the use of display screen equipment, health, safety and welfare at work, the provision and use of work equipment and the provision and use of PPE.
Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch said the cut-off point would be replaced with a list of 600 laws the government wants to replace by the end of the year.
