UK Parliament / Open data

European Union (Withdrawal) Bill

Proceeding contribution from Chris Leslie (Labour) in the House of Commons on Tuesday, 16 January 2018. It occurred during Debate on bills on European Union (Withdrawal) Bill.

I can certainly imagine cases where our constituents, feeling the need to assert some of those rights in the charter in future, find themselves falling foul of the provision in clause 5 that says, all of a sudden, that the charter of fundamental rights is not part of domestic law on or after exit day. They enjoyed those rights hitherto; where would that situation leave them?

The Government, when being sued by the tobacco companies which did not like plain packaging and thought it was against their rights of expression, cited the right to public health in the charter of fundamental rights and managed to defeat those tobacco companies. The charter of fundamental rights proved important not just for our constituents, but for the Government themselves in upholding what was a good piece of public policy at the time.

About this proceeding contribution

Reference

634 c748 

Session

2017-19

Chamber / Committee

House of Commons chamber

Subjects

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