I want to start by thanking the Minister for the “Dear colleague” letter that arrived last night. It went a long way to myth-busting some of the misinformation that has been put out about this Bill, particularly by clarifying that it will not weaken environmental protections and that the Government are committed to protecting workers’ rights. However, the letter did not mention consumer legislation. Consumer legislation is often dealt with by many different Government Departments, and that might be part of the reason why. I particularly want to focus on consumer legislation.
I worked for many years as a British MEP representing British constituents, and I also chaired the European Parliament’s Internal Market Committee, which is responsible for consumer legislation, so I am very aware of how important much EU consumer legislation is to protecting constituents—British consumers—and this covers many areas, including food safety, product safety and safety when we travel.
But I am also aware that EU legislation is not always perfect in all regards. Yes, the UK played a key part in negotiating much EU consumer law, but that does not mean that every single element of the law perfect fits the UK market or UK consumer needs. In some cases, the UK might have wanted to introduce different or even stronger protections, but to get consensus across all the EU member states, either a one-size-fits-all or a lowest-common-denominator approach was sometimes followed. For example, I sometimes saw larger companies lobbying on specific regulations or product specifications and making them so specific that smaller competitors would find themselves locked out of the market, thus stifling competition and reducing consumer choice. So I agree with the principle of the Bill that all of Whitehall needs to look again at all EU retained law and ensure that it fits UK needs.
Furthermore, where unnecessary regulation produces additional costs, these costs are too often passed on to consumers. In today’s economic environment, so many of our constituents have such pressures on their household budgets, and we need to reduce those unnecessary costs, so I understand why clause 15 has been drafted. However, this does not mean that removing all consumer regulation is in the consumer’s interests, because a well-regulated market can benefit consumers, especially when it comes to safety measures. There might be examples where it would be sensible for the UK actually to increase safety measures and therefore increase regulations in some places.
We also need to make sure that important protections do not inadvertently drop out of our legislation during this process. It is therefore important for Ministers to ensure that equivalent or improved legislation is put in place, so that consumer interests, especially regarding safety, can still be protected. I hope the Minister will be able to comment on that in the wind-ups.
We should also recognise that there are some areas, particularly in fast-moving sectors, where new or deeper regulation is needed. The consumer organisation Which? regularly reminds us that product safety regulations do not fully cover the way in which consumers spend their lives online, and there may be an opportunity to improve that in the forthcoming digital markets, competition and consumer Bill. Product safety regulations could be updated, given that the consultation is shortly to be launched by the Office for Product Safety and Standards. We need to make sure that the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill does not cut across those other initiatives.
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The UK has a very strong global reputation for producing good regulation. This matters, because we want to encourage businesses from all over the world to produce, manufacture and sell in the UK market. That helps to create jobs in each of our constituencies, to increase prosperity and to drive growth here in the UK. In order to do that, businesses need certainty, so they want to have a transparent regulatory process that includes consultation, with both businesses and consumer organisations, and the parliamentary scrutiny that is important to help reduce the risk of unintended consequences.
We know that producing good regulation, drafting changes and consulting on those changes can take time. We also know, and it is important to say again, that the
Bill in itself does not repeal all EU law. It just introduces a sunset clause for the majority of that law. The sunset clause has been set for the end of this year, and anyone who has worked on detailed regulation knows that is a very short period of time. However, tight deadlines focus minds. The Bill provides for an extension mechanism for specified pieces of EU law until 2026, and for some retained EU law to be preserved and incorporated in domestic law, where needed.
I heard what the Minister said about the dashboard, which is a helpful audit, and I have looked closely at amendment 36 and understand where it is coming from, but much more important to delivering the Bill is how it will be implemented. I therefore ask four things of Ministers. First, I urge them to set out, clearly and as quickly as possible, which regulations will have the 2023 sunset. I urge them not to be afraid of using the option to extend to 2026, where necessary. I urge them to ensure that the protections for consumers are not inadvertently dropped during this process, and to look across Whitehall at all consumer legislation. Finally, I urge them to make sure that any new or amended consumer legislation is properly introduced in an orderly way, with proper consultation and scrutiny.