The Government has been forced to admit that European Union laws and directives will still be in force after Brexit. Yesterday, the triggering of Article 50 marked the beginning of the UK’s two-year countdown to leaving the EU.
While many Leave voters cast their ballot to break the shackles of courts overseas, many EU laws will remain in place until Parliament decides to amend or remove, them according to Brexit Secretary David Davis.
The Great Reform Bill will repeal the 1972 European Communities Act and convert all EU law into British law. Davis said this would provide ‘clarity and certainty’ for businesses and citizens.
One of the key campaign pledges of the Leave campaign during the EU Referendum was making sure foreign judges did not interfere in UK law.
Yet the keen Eurosceptic, Davis, said the Bill will mean: ‘As we exit the EU and seek a new deep and special partnership with the European Union, we will be doing so from the position where we have the same standards and rules.
‘But it will also ensure that we deliver on our promise to end the supremacy of EU law in the UK as we exit.
‘Our laws will then be made in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast and interpreted not by judges in Luxembourg but by judges across the United Kingdom.’
However, despite ‘taking back control’ being a feature of the campaign, it also became apparent laws dating back to Henry VIII which would stop Brexit laws having close Parliamentary scrutiny.
The controversial plan to pass up to 1,000 pieces of secondary legislation without close parliamentary scrutiny is outlined in the Bill itself.
Moving EU law into UK law would delay any reform of workers’ rights being changed. Labour’s Keir Starmer said all existing rights and protections must be maintained as part of measures to convert EU law into the UK system.
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