European Union (Withdrawal) Bill

In a moment.

These powers allow Ministers to make those changes to ensure that the statute ...

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I will give way to both right hon. Gentlemen in a few minutes.

Following this, it will be f...

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I will give way in a moment.

I stand ready to listen to those who offer improvements to the...

The Secretary of State mentioned in his opening remarks that the Bill gives Ministers the power t...

If the hon. Gentleman will be patient, I will come later in my speech to the detail of that and h...

Will the Secretary of State take this opportunity to confirm that the Government will not use thi...

Again, I will go into that in some detail. There is one exception to this, but the primary aim be...

George Osborne, in his headline in the Evening Standard last night, referred to the Secretary of ...

I have to tell the right hon. Gentleman that I do not read the Evening Standard—it sounds like wi...

Will my right hon. Friend confirm that if the Government wish to make a change by statutory instr...

My right hon. Friend is entirely right—it is a point I will elaborate on later—and the editor of ...

Will the Secretary of State confirm his view that not transposing the EU charter of fundamental r...

Again, I will come to that later, but if the hon. Lady remembers, when the White Paper was presen...

I will make some progress now, and I will give way a little later. I am conscious of the point ma...

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

If my right hon. and learned Friend will forgive me, I will not for the moment.

Let me now ...

Will the Secretary of State give way on that point?

In a moment.

To do that, the first step the Bill takes is to preserve all the domestic law ...

Will the Secretary of State give way?

In a moment.

For that reason, the Bill ensures that any question as to the meaning of retai...

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I will make this point and then give way. Future decisions of the Court of Justice will not bind ...

Given the scale of the task that the Secretary of State is setting out in his introduction to the...

The first thing I would say is that eight days is quite a long time for this sort of thing. Perha...

The trouble with relying on secondary legislation is that it is unamendable and gets only one and...

In essence, remember, the aim of the Bill is to translate European Union into UK law and to make ...

What conclusion should the electorate draw about respect for democracy from other parties’ refusa...

I am not going to presume ill intent from the start. I say to everybody in the House that the ele...

I will make some progress now.

Overall, then, the Bill provides for very significant contin...

Will my right hon. Friend give way on that point?

In a moment.

There are some elements that simply will not make sense if they remain on the ...

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

Let me clear: the absence of the charter will not affect the substantive rights available in the ...

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In the several months since I said that, no one has yet brought my attention to a right we have m...

The Secretary of State will know that the key issue is not what Ministers say the aim of the Bill...

I will come to the details in a moment, but there are a number of limitations, one of which is th...

I understand my right hon. Friend’s point about the charter, because I agree with him that genera...

I am afraid that my old and dear right hon. and learned Friend and I are going to have a differen...

Will the Secretary of State give way?

Not for a moment. I will make some progress and come back to the hon. and learned Lady.

The...

Will the Secretary of State give way?

No.

I accept that proposing a delegated power of this breadth is unusual, but leaving the E...

Following on from the point made by the right hon. and learned Member for Beaconsfield (Mr Grieve...

Order. This is a very lawyerly intervention, which is not altogether surprising in view of its ge...

I am coming to the question, Mr Speaker, but the Secretary of State asked for examples. A challen...

I think that that will be brought forward in the course of the Bill’s translation, but if not—[In...

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With respect, we have had one lengthy intervention, and I have to make some progress.

Our c...

Will the Secretary of State give way?

No. All these changes must happen quickly to maintain stability as we leave the European Union. M...

Will the Secretary of State give way?

In a moment.

I am sure that we will hear calls for secondary legislation to receive greater...

I will give way in a second.

These corrections need to be made to ensure that we have a fun...

The central premise of the Secretary of State’s argument is that in order to ensure a smooth exit...

The hon. Gentleman is quite right in one respect: that is clear Government policy. That is, in fa...

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

In a moment.

The Government’s aspiration is to agree a new deep and special partnership wit...

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I will give way to the hon. Lady.

I have listened patiently to the Secretary of State, who has waxed lyrical about these regulation...

I am afraid that that is not correct. The point was made by another Member—it may even have been ...

Forgive me; I will make some progress. The exact use of the power will, of course, depend on the ...

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

I will give way in one second to my right hon. Friend.

We have already committed to bringin...

I am very grateful to my right hon. Friend for giving way.

“One of the most offensive kinds...

I thank my right hon. Friend for her suggestion. There will not be many thousands of statutory in...

In the Bill.

Well, I will talk to her about it during the Bill process, and about possibly changing—

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No. If my right hon. Friend will forgive me, I am trying to hold back from taking too many interv...

Will the Secretary of State give way?

I will give way to the Chairman of the Select Committee.

Will the Secretary of State give the House an assurance that the powers in clause 9 to implement ...

To vote on the agreement?

On the agreement.

I am just thinking through the logic of that. It seems to me to be logical, in truth. Will the ri...

I want to move on to another subject, if I may, which is the subject of devolution. This relates ...

What the right hon. Gentleman is therefore describing is not devolution but reserving powers to t...

I have said already that we will put our overall negotiation through legislative consent motions;...

Will the Secretary of State give way?

Will the Secretary of State give way?

I will not give way for the moment.

For example, the common frameworks will mean that a bus...

If this is a smooth transition, I am not sure how much worse it is going to get. On the points th...

I do not remember any such promise. When I was going through the list of practical things that ap...

Will the Secretary of State give way?

No, I will not give way at the moment.

The Bill gives time for us to work with the devolved...

I must inform the House that I have selected the amendment in the name of the Leader of the Oppos...

I beg to move,

to leave out from ‘That’ to the end of the Question and add ‘this House resp...

I will make this point and then give way.

Given that the clause is drawn so widely, one wou...

Will the right hon. and learned Gentleman give way?

I will make this point and then give way to several hon. Members.

What are the procedures? ...

The case that the right hon. and learned Gentleman is making is for an amendment to clause 9. He ...

I have only just started.

The Secretary of State made great play of the claim that the Bill was necessary for certainty. Gi...

I do, and I shall attempt to demonstrate that.

I will press on. I know that Members want to intervene, but I heard what you said, Mr Speaker, ab...

Will the right hon. and learned Gentleman give way?

I will complete this part of my presentation, if I may.

What is the scope and extent of tha...

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I will complete this point, and then I will give way.

I was glad to see that the Prime Mini...

Will the right hon. and learned Gentleman give way?

When I have finished this point.

As the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State will know...

I entirely agree with my right hon. and learned Friend, who has pointed out what a joke the Bill ...

I am grateful for that intervention.

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Hurray!

Order. I think we can short-circuit this. The hon. Member for North East Somerset has often been ...

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I will give way to both the Members who have been trying to intervene.

Does the right hon. and learned Gentleman believe that under clause 9, what is being called “the ...

If it did not come under clause 9, it would certainly come under clause 17.

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I give way, and I apologise for giving way to the two Members in the wrong order.

As a new Member, I also looked at advice on how Parliament has looked at statutory instruments, a...

It is not as if this point is being made for the first time today: these are the points that have...

The key point about clause 9 is that the Government have asked Parliament to allow them to alter ...

I am grateful for that intervention. It powerfully—

Will the right hon. and learned Gentleman give way?

I am on my feet answering the last intervention, which powerfully makes the point that this Bill ...

I am going to press on.

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I am going to press on.

Let me turn from parliamentary involvement to the protection of rig...

On health and safety protections, the right hon. and learned Gentleman knows, of course, that the...

No, I am afraid it does not. The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, the Management of H...

The right hon. and learned Gentleman is making an excellent speech. On environmental standards, d...

I am very grateful for that intervention, because one thing that is not on the face of the Bill i...

Is there not a fundamental contradiction in what the right hon. and learned Gentleman has been sa...

I am obviously a very bad communicator: I thought I was suggesting that workplace rights, environ...

Does not the last intervention point to the fundamental misunderstanding that some have about thi...

I am grateful for that intervention and agree with it.

May I move on to other rights, becau...

The right hon. and learned Gentleman makes an important point. Reading the mind of my right hon. ...

That is exactly the point that was made earlier. To say that the changes do not matter because we...

Would the right hon. and learned Gentleman be good enough to explain why other distinguished gent...

No. I spent 20-plus years as a human rights lawyer interpreting and applying provisions such as t...

The Secretary of State said earlier that it was “silly” of me to raise the transitional arrangeme...

This is the conundrum that the Secretary of State and the Bill have created. If exit day is in Ma...

The right hon. and learned Gentleman is making an outstandingly concise and forensic speech disse...

It certainly could. The only way out of that would be to have multiple exit days. Members might t...

The Opposition spokesman has just reminded us that this Bill was trailed for a long time as the “...

Will my right hon. and learned Friend give way?

I will not, because large numbers of people want to speak and I want to touch briefly on the time...

I commend the right hon. and learned Member for Rushcliffe (Mr Clarke) and, in particular, the sh...

Is the hon. Gentleman not aware of the question that was on the ballot paper? It was a United Kin...

I do not know which part of “the people of Scotland are sovereign” the hon. Gentleman does not un...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I need to make some progress.

I welcome that we now have a lot more clarity from Labour on ...

I will not give way just now.

In all the reasoned amendments that have been tabled, MPs fro...

The hon. Gentleman talks about representing Scotland, but let us remember that 1 million Scots vo...

I will happily see the hon. Gentleman’s 1 million Scottish votes to leave the European Union and ...

I will take no more interventions from people whose position on the European Union has changed so...

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that it would be simple and straightforward for the Government to a...

Absolutely—that is what devolution means; if the powers are currently devolved, they should remai...

Order. A 10-minute limit on Back-Bench speeches will now apply.

2.11 pm

I will endeavour to be brief. In rising to support the Bill in principle and in many cases in fac...

I organised that.

Exactly. I wonder whether, through my right hon. Friend’s good offices, the powers that be might ...

I would just like to mention, if my right hon. Friend will allow me, that it would not be unusefu...

I am grateful for that intervention by my hon. Friend. I know he will be able to make a powerful ...

I have great sympathy with my right hon. Friend’s critique of European Union law. It is one of th...

I am not asking for two wrongs to make a right; I support the principle of the Bill and the need ...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

I am not going to give way; I do not want the hon. and learned Lady to embarrass herself any more...

First, I just say to the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr Duncan Smith) tha...

It sounds as though the right hon. Gentleman agrees with the principle and thrust of what is bein...

No, I will not—unless the Government move on this—because the flaws are so fundamental that they ...

I have a very simple question for the right hon. Gentleman. Does he agree with the proposition pu...

It was an interesting proposal, but, personally, I think that others can give advice, but in the ...

Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that the existing Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments co...

That would be one possibility. I hope that the Government will listen to all these suggestions an...

In British constitutional history, there are few examples of Bills of such historic significance ...

May I remind my hon. Friend of his contribution to the debates on the Maastricht treaty? He made ...

I am so glad that my right hon. and learned Friend has made that point, because I would like to e...

I hesitate to ask my hon. Friend to give way, but simply want to make the point that as he will r...

Absolutely. That is the cardinal principle.

The Henry VIII arrangement in this Bill is a mi...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Stone (Sir William Cash), who has spent more time ...

I entirely agree with the hon. Lady. Does she agree that the EU probably does not want to talk ab...

The right hon. Gentleman is right: money seems to be the crucial thing it is using in the negotia...

I entirely agree with the hon. Member for Vauxhall (Kate Hoey): we have no legal obligation to pa...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

Let me just explain why this is good for remain voters and then I will give way to someone who is...

I am very surprised that the right hon. Gentleman is saying how delighted he is that so many righ...

Order. Forgive me, but colleagues must have some regard to each other’s interests. There are a lo...

Let us come to the secondary legislation point. First, all statutory instruments are subject to a...

The right hon. Gentleman has suggested that those who voted for remain, as I did, should be happy...

I think that those excellent principles are already reflected in both European law and British la...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

I am afraid that time is now rather limited.

I am very much in favour of our Parliament mak...

Is my right hon. Friend saying that one of the largest and most basic amounts of its income that ...

I am saying that either way, we could get a good deal. If the EU decides that it wants to impose ...

Order. Immediately after the next speaker, the time limit on Back-Bench speeches will be reduced ...

This has been a very thoughtful debate, and I hope that the Government are in no doubt about the ...

Does the right hon. Lady not accept that the Government are conducting the negotiations? Parliame...

I am not comfortable with the right hon. Gentleman’s enthusiasm for giving the Government blank c...

Order. The five-minute limit on Back-Bench speeches will now apply.

3.21 pm

This has been a fascinating debate so far, and I am delighted that a little bird tells me that th...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

I am sorry, but I will not. I do not have much time. I do not believe that that is a very good wa...

It is by no means the only ambiguity in this Bill, but I agree entirely that to ask the judiciary...

I agree with my right hon. and learned Friend about that and hope that in Committee we will be ab...

It is a great privilege to make my maiden speech as part of this special and important debate. Ma...

Thank you; many congratulations to the hon. Lady. The five-minute time limit is now restored.

I congratulate the new hon. Member for Canterbury (Rosie Duffield) on an excellent and confident ...

Will my right hon. Friend advise ardent leavers, possibly those on the Government Benches, that t...

I thank my right hon. Friend for that intervention. She is absolutely right. As a former EU budge...

I, too, congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Canterbury (Rosie Duffield) on a speech that w...

Please will the right hon. Gentleman explain Norway’s arrangement? Norway has never been in the E...

The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. The one I was going to make is that if we are being brutal...

I join the right hon. Member for Knowsley (Mr Howarth) in congratulating the hon. Member for Cant...

This intervention is not about the Elephants Preservation Act 1879. Does my right hon. Friend not...

My right hon. Friend is spot on. That is why the Government sensibly are going to bring forward p...

The right hon. Member for North Shropshire (Mr Paterson) talks about promises made, but I think w...

First, I congratulate the hon. Member for Canterbury (Rosie Duffield) on her maiden speech, which...

Does my right hon. Friend agree that we could address that in Committee not through a change to c...

Absolutely. I entirely agree with my right hon. Friend. These are all curable, and readily curabl...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

No, I must make progress. There is another issue with Henry VIII clauses. We need to look at the ...

There were some excellent speeches after the Secretary of State’s. Things went slight downhill af...

As my hon. Friend the Member for Stone (Sir William Cash) pointed out, this is an historic Bill b...

I will support the Bill on Second Reading for two reasons—one relatively small and personal, and ...

I will curtail my remarks to focus on the parts of the Bill that deal with the transposing of EU ...

I agree with a number of the points that the right hon. Member for Newbury (Richard Benyon) has j...

It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for East Ham (Stephen Timms), but let me also sa...

Will the right hon. Lady give way?

I will in a moment.

I want to thank my right hon. Friends the Prime Minister and the Secret...

Leaving the EU means that we need to convert decades of EU law into our domestic legislation. A B...

Thank you for calling me, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am not used to being called so early in a debat...

The hon. Gentleman says that the principle of the Bill is good. What we have been discussing toda...

I hope that the hon. Lady will be reassured by the comments that I shall go on to make.

Let...

I do not want to repeat many of the excellent points made from the shadow Front Bench and elsewhe...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I will not give way, I am afraid, because of the time. [Interruption.] The hon. Gentleman says he...

I echo many of the sentiments expressed by the hon. and right hon. Members who support the Bill, ...

I want to focus briefly on the Government’s wilful misinterpretation of what Brexit means and the...