Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill

It is a pleasure to be here, and I thank all Members who have tabled new amendments and new claus...

We all accept that the status of EU law must change and that it will have to be reassimilated int...

I always respect my hon. Friend’s opinion, but he is fundamentally mistaken. We have undertaken a...

My hon. Friend the Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Sir Robert Neill) is fundamentally wrong. ...

Having a single set of laws across the UK will provide far more certainty.

Before I take any more interventions, I want to address the point made by my hon. Friend the Memb...

Notwithstanding the charmingly innocent faith in lawyers of my hon. Friend the Member for Bromley...

Absolutely. When decisions are taken either to amend or to revoke, the usual channels will be fol...

The Minister is right that the whole point of Brexit was to take control of our own laws. She is ...

My right hon. Friend raises a very important issue. As it is sensitive, he must allow me a moment...

rose—

I will just make a little progress before I take more interventions.

I cannot stress enough...

I am sure that my hon. Friend will remember being on the Back Benches and sitting in statutory in...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. There has been a lot of misinformation about the environment....

The Minister spoke of taking back control, but the harsh reality is that the Government are takin...

Order. Could I gently say to the Minister that in order to facilitate Hansard and hon. Members se...

My apologies, Mr Deputy Speaker.

The question is, why would the right hon. Member for Ross,...

On agility, the Minister will know that the majority of the thousands of rules that need to be ch...

I think many people coming into the debate today think that this is the start of something, but t...

The hon. Member for Rochford and Southend East (Sir James Duddridge) talked about statutory instr...

The hon. Member was very astute in Committee, and we spent many hours together discussing this. T...

Just before that intervention, the Minister was talking about the environment. Is it not the case...

Absolutely. We on this side of the House have done a tremendous amount of work that did not requi...

rose—

rose—

I will just make a little bit of progress.

As I have said, the sunset clause is necessary a...

Surely parliamentary sovereignty is giving Members of Parliament control, not the Executive or bu...

The reality is that Ministers take decisions all the time, and there is a process in place where ...

I want to react to what I think I heard the Minister saying when she suggested that those of us w...

I would not want to misrepresent my right hon. Friend’s position. The point I was making was that...

rose—

I will give way to the hon. Lady because she has been so patient.

I am grateful to the Minister for finally giving way. She is suggesting that those of us who oppo...

The hon. Lady has got the meme for her Facebook page. Unfortunately, she wholly misrepresents wha...

Listening to the Opposition, we might think that the EU is the land of milk and honey when it com...

We can make sure that we have a better focus on renewables, and we can take the decisions that wo...

Many constituents have been in touch with me with their concerns about habitat protection, matern...

We are working across Departments to cover laws that will either be assimilated, amended or revok...

Will the Minister give way?

I will make a little progress.

Significant reform will be needed in other areas, which is w...

My hon. Friend is setting out a very powerful case. On the one hand, she is making the case that ...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. If the law is already devolved, the devolved Administrations ...

The Minister talks about the devolved Administrations hanging on to their powers. Will she ensure...

Yes. The hon. Gentleman may have missed the earlier part of my speech. Government officials have ...

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I seek your advice because the Environment Secretary test...

The hon. Gentleman is well aware that that is not a matter for the Chair. The Minister is respons...

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. To ensure that the devolved Governments are also able to fully seiz...

rose—

I will finish this point and then I will take some interventions. We also now have AUKUS, where w...

The Minister is making an excellent speech. Does she agree that stagnant EU laws are hindering ec...

It will indeed help the cockle industry. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs h...

Is that not precisely the point: any Department, at any time, that identifies areas of retained E...

I am afraid that the hon. Gentleman fundamentally misunderstands the Bill. Many items of law will...

I chair the European Statutory Instruments Committee, which has been mentioned in this House alre...

They are not just hollow, but simply inaccurate. My hon. Friend has mentioned his European Statut...

I am grateful for the opportunity to rise to speak in support of the amendments that appear in my...

As we have heard, the vast majority of policy, from use of harmful pesticides to air quality, tha...

I will go on to explain why that deadline is inappropriate and, indeed, impractical.

The Go...

I am listening carefully to the hon. Member’s speech, especially about the timeline. My question ...

If people are going to intervene, they should read the Bill and the amendments, because they woul...

rose—

I will give way to the architect of the Bill.

Surely the hon. Gentleman is aware that our first legislation on consumer rights was in 1893, som...

I am sure that those were the glory years—the right hon. Member’s favourite period of time. This ...

I think everybody agrees that, as we have left the European Union, we need to look at the foundat...

I am grateful for that intervention. That is exactly the problem here. If Ministers decide to rem...

When it comes to workers’ rights or environmental protections, does the shadow Minister suspect, ...

That probably takes us slightly away from the thrust of the Bill. But what is this Government’s r...

The hon. Member is being generous and making a powerful case. Does he share my concern that, for ...

The hon. Member is right. I shall come back to that in a little while.

In essence, when we took back control through the referendum decision in 2016, it was not to a pa...

I am afraid the right hon. Gentleman does not understand what the Bill does. It hands the power t...

Following the Bar Council’s recommendations and concerns about protections, I put on record that ...

My hon. Friend articulates well why her constituents and indeed many people across all sectors of...

The shadow Minister has implied that the whole country is very concerned about what is going to h...

I think we would be reassured if that was what the Bill did, but the Bill does not give Ministers...

Does my hon. Friend agree that, over the 47 years of our membership, we evolved thousands of rule...

That is a very good point. If the Government cannot even tell us how many rules are covered by th...

I am sure many of us have received emails from constituents concerned about this process, or rath...

My hon. Friend is right that we must answer to our constituents about what is going to happen wit...

There is a huge point of principle here, but there are also issues around pragmatic logistics. I ...

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend. The deadline was pretty risky to start with, but it now lo...

If you do not mind, Mr Deputy Speaker, I am not going to take any more interventions for a while,...

It is clearly right to have parliamentary scrutiny of these measures and those that will come as ...

I direct the hon. Gentleman to the Whips Office around the corner. He can have a word with them a...

The hon. Gentleman has already said that the UK’s elected processes already had input into EU law...

Well, a Government who have been promising an employment Bill for five years and allowed the scan...

The hon. Member is suggesting that this Government want to get rid of a huge number of workers’ r...

If the Minister is true to her word, she will vote with us and make sure that that is exactly wha...

I am after my hon. Friend’s help on this: was it a figment of my imagination, or did those on the...

Yes, I think that Bill also gives employers the power to sack striking nurses, teachers and docto...

Order. Take out your mental editing pens, ladies and gentlemen, because you are going to have to ...

Having endured the last 40 minutes, I am bound to say, as Chairman of the European Scrutiny Commi...

This is the essence of the misunder-standing of the hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston. Th...

I am grateful for that intervention, because nothing could have been more obvious than the fact t...

Will my hon. Friend give way?

No. In a nutshell, every single law that goes to the Council of Ministers, which is the ultimate ...

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I have been told many times that when we are on Report, w...

I have already exercised that judgment. If I thought that the hon. Gentleman was out of order, I ...

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. So much for that.

Our system has relied uniquely on a large b...

I call the SNP spokesperson.

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Stone (Sir William Cash). Bluntly, we do not agree...

The hon. Gentleman makes some interesting and thoughtful points. How, then, did leaving the Europ...

I am glad that the hon. Gentleman has mentioned that often-quoted canard. As a starter, the Europ...

I jib very strongly at the suggestion of avoiding the procedures whereby these laws were made. It...

That is a point on which we flatly disagree. These legislative instruments were for over 40 or 50...

What are my hon. Friend’s thoughts on the fact of those powers being called in by a Minister, not...

I agree with that point, but that is the reality of devolution, which is why we think devolution ...

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that there is a commonality of approach and of concerns, which he h...

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. The UK constitutional arrangements in London, Wales,...

I rise to speak primarily about new clause 1, but I will touch on other amendments.

This Bi...

The hon. Member and I have worked collaboratively on a number of things, including the Online Saf...

I enjoyed working with the hon. Lady on the Online Safety Bill, which made huge progress yesterda...

On a small point that was just raised, may I mention that the Online Safety Bill is not retained ...

I agree with my hon. Friend.

I am conscious of time. The bit that I really want to touch on...

While most of the United Kingdom will benefit from the Bill, and my party will support the Govern...

I thank the hon. Member—my friend—for his comments. Absolutely, we need to get that sorted, becau...

The Bill certainly has not improved with age; on the contrary, all of its flaws have become more ...

First, I would like to put on record my support for this Bill. I fully understand the huge opport...

I rise to raise amendment 36, tabled in my name and in the name of the right hon. Member for Halt...

May I begin by thanking the fantastic Bill team, some of whom may be listening to our proceedings...

I hope the right hon. Gentleman will understand this point. Of course there is a difference: we w...

The right hon. Gentleman makes a fair point. There will be some work for the Scottish Parliament ...

I will keep my remarks to the Bill’s impact on laws that fall within the remit of the Department ...

Is it not also the case that, as far as we are aware, the perception of environmental legislation...

There is a point about REACH—the EU regulation concerning the registration, evaluation, authorisa...

rose—

As I have mentioned the right hon. Gentleman twice, I will give way to him.

I am very grateful. I just want to clarify a point. It is not my word that has any significance i...

I look forward to repeating the words of the right hon. Gentleman and the Minister on the Treasur...

I want to start by thanking the Minister for the “Dear colleague” letter that arrived last night....

One of the loveliest plaudits I have had since becoming a Member of Parliament is to be named as ...

I will be brief. My arguments will be simple and they will go straight to amendment 36.

Whe...

I hesitate to stop the right hon. Gentleman, but does he therefore agree with me that the fact th...

If the hon. Lady had given me 30 seconds, I would have made exactly that point. I agree with her....

I am very grateful to my right hon. Friend for giving way, because I, too, am very much in favour...

I am sorry, but two wrongs do not make a right. The reason why I did not like the European Union ...

It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden (Mr Davis) in this de...

I voted for the independence that we gained from leaving the EU, as did many of my constituents. ...

I rise to speak in support of amendments 18, 19, 21, 24 and 36. What is clear from the Government...

The great constitutional theorist A.V. Dicey declared:

“The principle of parliamentary sove...

The right hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden (Mr Davis) described the Bill as a pig in a poke...

The measures in the Bill are wholly necessary and greatly welcome. The retention of EU law after ...

What is it about the Conservative party and its predilection for avoiding scrutiny in the House? ...

There has been a lot of discussion about democracy this afternoon. I would just point out that 70...

Alas, I am going to add to the tsunami of nonsense, as it was termed a moment ago.

I rise t...

I have concerns about the Bill in its current form. Those concerns are informed partly by the Nat...

Less than 48 hours after we stood in this House to defend the right to strike, my hon. Friends an...

Industry bodies are currently concerned about the divergence of regulation, which is a divergence...

The hon. Member has made a good point. There is no doubt that this will cause an absolute diverge...

It is interesting to hear some Members go on about how retained EU law has a special status in UK...

I congratulate the hon. Member on his reference to “Star Trek” on Report. At least he referred to...

Through this pernicious piece of legislation the Government seek to give themselves the power to ...

I rise to speak in support of amendments 21 and 36. Losing environmental protections was a major ...

We have two more Back-Bench contributions, and then we will move on to the wind-ups. I advise Mem...

This is the second shameful bit of legislation the House has seen this week, the first being the ...

I know that Christmas was a few weeks ago, but here is a late present: I am not putting the clock...

Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker. I am a lucky man.

I wish to speak about a number of...

I am just trying to squeeze a bit more out of Mr Deputy Speaker’s kind gift. Does my hon. Friend ...

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. I have worked with asbestos campaigners in my own area i...

Will my hon. Friend give way?

I am conscious of time and, given that I have allowed one intervention, I should now conclude.