REUL Bill Second Update

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Jane Lambert

I have already discussed this bill in Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill on 26 Oct 2022 and REUL Bill First Update on 6 Dec 2022,  It has now completed its passage through the House of Commons and will proceed to the House of Lords tomorrow.  The latest version of the bill can be read here.

Ahead of its second reading in the Lords, the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, which considers the policy effects of statutory instruments and other types of secondary legislation, has published Losing Control?: The Implications for Parliament of the retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill.  The members of the Committee (Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville, The Earl of Lindsay, Lord De Mauley, Lord Lisvane, Lord German, Lord Powell of Bayswater, Viscount Hanworth, Lord Rowlands. Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts, Baroness Watkins of Tavistock and Lord Hutton of Furness) have done so because they believe that the proposed legislation is an extreme example of a skeleton bill which would lead to a significant shift of power from Parliament to ministers.  

As their mandate is to scrutinize secondary legislation it is unusual for the Committee to report on primary legislation.  They explain that they have taken that exceptional step because they have power to consider “general matters relating to the effective scrutiny of secondary legislation” which this bill is likely to affect.

Their concern with the sunset clauses is that important legislation may disappear inadvertently from the statute book. They fear that ministers and their officials may simply overlook important provisions.  They add that there is no machinery for MPs to intervene on behalf of concerned constituents.  As to the proposed power of ministers to amend EU regulations and directives by statutory instrument, they call for an amendment of the bill to enable Parliament as a whole to amend important legislative instruments.  They call for explanatory memoranda to be produced on every piece of legislation likely to lapse or be modified.

The Bar Council, which had previously briefed peers on the bill, welcomes the Committee's report. In his press release Retained EU Law Bill will damage UK’s reputation, says Bar Council of 3 Feb 2023  the Chair of the Bar warned that "the bill in its present form, will damage the UK’s reputation for regulatory stability, predictability, and competence on which growth-promoting investment in critical sectors of our economy depends."

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