Putney MP Speaks Out Against EU Legislation Bonfire
Employment rights and environmental regulations could be scrapped
Fleur Anderson MP speaking in the debate on Wednesday
January 20, 2023
Fleur Anderson has condemned during a debate in the House of Commons what she describes as an “irresponsible, reckless and undemocratic legislative bonfire” of EU laws by the Government .
The Putney MP was speaking at the Retained EU Legislation Debate held on Wednesday 18 January when the controversial Bill was being discussed in Parliament.
The Putney constituency was one of the most opposed to leaving the EU in the country at the time of the 2016 Referendum. Ms Anderson says she has been contacted by 300 constituents concerned about a range of issues such as the protection of nature and maternity rights.
If passed it could mean thousands of pieces of legislation are automatically ‘deleted’ at the end of this year without the normal scrutiny for changes of legislation.
The Government is seeking to pass a Bill which would affect laws carried over from the UK’s former membership of the European Union. If the Bill is passed, laws covering a wide range of areas, including employment rights and environmental regulations, could be amended. Women’s rights and animal welfare could also be impacted.
Ms Anderson said, “The laws which could be automatically repealed at the end of the year cover every aspect of life in the UK; habitat protections, compensations for delayed trains or flights, the right to paid annual leave, equal pay, bank holidays, rules concerning cancer-causing chemicals, flight safety standards, parental leave, pension protections and more.
“The Government showed in the debate yesterday that they don’t even know how many and which Laws are going to be affected. There are at least 2,400 pieces of legislation and the National Archive uncovered 1300 more last November.
“I am horrified that the Conservative Government propose to make this Bill law. It is an irresponsible, reckless and undemocratic legislative bonfire at a time when my constituents need certainty and stability. It must be stopped.”
Civil servants will be required to review thousands of pieces of legislation in 12 months, which the consumer watchdog Which? have claimed will create an enormous risk for mistakes or gaps in regulations around matters of public safety.
The MP said after the debate, “People in Putney, Roehampton and Southfields need stability and certainty that they can plan for the months and years ahead, not yet more Tory chaos. We are already facing a Cost of Living Crisis, this uncertainty about future laws only deepens confusion and uncertainty for local people.
“Parliamentary sovereignty means that Members of Parliament should be able to discuss and debate all changes to all UK laws. This Bill could prevent us from doing that. Nobody voted for MPs to lose the power to scrutinise the Government. MPs must have the time and power to scrutinise those proposals on behalf of our constituents.
“It is no secret that I opposed Brexit, but this way of deleting laws is also opposed by MPs who supported Brexit. The Government did not need to deal with EU laws in this way – it is clear that they want to use this Bill to embark on a process of mass deregulation. The laws at risk aren’t cumbersome red tape but rights and protections British people rightly expect.”
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Conservative MP who developed the Bill when he was a minister, said, "This piece of legislation is being enormously misinterpreted by the benches opposite and it has to be said mainly by people who never wanted to leave the EU anyway.
"There is a misconception opposite in so many ways when we get to this Bill and the amendments that are in front of it.
"The amendments themselves are deeply confused because on the one hand there's a concern this is a great power grab, that this enormously powerful state will snatch power away from Parliament.
"On the other hand they want the regulations to be extended. Well either it's a great power grab or the regulations should be extended - it can't be both.
"And the truth is it's mainly technical. What it is doing is correcting our statute book so that we no longer have laws that refer to European regulations that may themselves have been repealed or amended.”
MPs voted 297 to 238 to give it a third reading and the Bill will now go to the Lords for further scrutiny.
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