Last week in Parliament we worked till the small hours, voting on and debating the proposed amendments to the European Union Withdrawal Bill. The Bill published in July, changes elements of the UK’s constitution, providing legal continuity by bringing the entire body of EU law into UK law. The Bill repeals the European Union Communities Act 1972 on the day the UK leaves the EU, making Parliament the sole law-making body in the UK.
Legal continuity is extremely important for several reasons, not least that without it we would be left with a huge gap in our law on the day we leave. Law that covers areas from employee rights, to food safety standards to animal welfare… Of course, the UK will have to amend many of these EU laws to make them work within UK law. The scale of this task is considerable with an estimated 20,000 EU laws currently in force, and all of which will need to be converted.
Sounds straightforward? Apparently not! Three hundred amendments were put forward. I read them all and attended a lot of the debate. There are three types of amendment, the first would give an effective veto right on the deal for the devolved Administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The second tries to secure principles that will be included in the final deal such as environmental protections, EU citizens’ rights, employment rights etc… No political party wants to reverse the progress made in these areas, in fact we may want to build upon them. Finally, there are some sensible suggestions which will be discussed in more detail in forthcoming debates. One of the headline amendments has been whether to include a hard date for our exit. There are pros and cons to this approach. Those that are in favour feel that it will increase the pressure on the EU to move negotiations on. Others feel that a hard date is too inflexible in the case where we may want more time to seal the deal. It is ultimately a judgement call on a negotiating tactic, pressure vs flexibility.
I personally voted against all of the amendments last week, as I felt that none of them were going to improve our chances of getting a smooth transition. In fact, many would only frustrate the process. I did vote and campaign to remain, however, I believe we must support the Government and ensure we get the best possible outcome from Brexit – it is going to happen so let’s equip the negotiating team with the best tools to get the best deal.