In January 2022, the Government announced plans to bring forward a Bill to create a more innovative regulatory regime than would have been possible were the UK still a member of the European Union. That Bill is the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill. The Bill will abolish this special status and will enable the Government, via Parliament, to amend, repeal, and replace retained EU Law. The Bill will also include a sunset date by which all remaining retained EU Law will either be repealed or assimilated into UK domestic law. The programme to review, revoke and reform retained EU law is underway and there are no plans to change the sunset deadline for any government departments.
What the Bill does not mean, however, is that we owe all our legislation on areas such as workers rights, to the EU, - as has been suggested by some constituents. Much of the legislation was developed by the UK itself and far exceeds EU law. Other laws have different origins. If you look at Workers’ Rights, it is not the EU which owns these and started them off but the Council of Europe which is a non-EU body. The Council’s European Social Charter was begun as long ago as the 1960s and it contains many of the basic elements which we have now adopted and which were later on acquired by the EU.
I can assure you that the Government is committed to maintaining and enhancing workers’ rights following the UK’s departure from the EU. Ultimately, the UK has one of the best records on workers’ rights in the world, going further than the EU in many areas, and I am determined to build on this progress. By further protecting workers, supporting business to comply with the law, and preventing them from being undercut by a minority of irresponsible employers, the UK can continue to have a high-wage, high-employment economy that works for everyone as we build back better from the pandemic.
This Bill will benefit people and businesses across the UK. While I have noted the strength of feeling about this issue, I have been assured by my ministerial colleagues that the Bill will not weaken environmental protections. Indeed, the Government has acted to significantly increase environmental protection. In 2021, the Government passed a new Environment Act which sets in law a series of environmental targets, enforced by a new Office for Environmental Protection. This landmark Act will clean up the country’s air, restore natural habitats, increase biodiversity, reduce waste and make better use of our resources.
