MSPs voice serious concerns over Retained EU Law Bill
Concerns about the UK Government’s Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill have been expressed by a Holyrood committee in a report on the effects of the bill.
The report by the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs & Culture Committee follows its scrutiny of the legislative consent memorandum on the bill, which would see any EU law still in place, and which is not going to be retained, repealed by the end of 2023 in a "sunset clause".
The Scottish Government's memorandum did not recommend legislative consent, and evidence was heard by the committee that the approach in the bill creates significant risks to policy in areas such as food standards, animal health and environmental protection.
MSPs are also concerned about the impact of the short time frame for scrutiny of any EU law to be retained, which they say will present capacity challenges for the Scottish Government and Parliament.
Without the UK Government working with the Scottish Government, they state, the shortfalls within the bill will not be addressed.
The "many and significant concerns" they highlight include:
- the "cliff-edge" of the sunset provision, variously described by witnesses as "problematic", "arbitrary", "irresponsible" and "the last thing that business needs in such a fragile economic environment";
- the "blank cheque" power for ministers to amend or replace retained EU law, with limited parliamentary oversight whether at Westminster or Holyrood, and across multiple policy areas;
- the extent of the impact on parliamentary and Scottish Government time and resources in the second half of 2023 likely to arise from scrutiny of legislation before the sunset date;
- any extension of the sunset date for specified instruments (or classes of instruments) being a power at the sole discretion of UK ministers;
- the sunset date allowing insufficient time to manage intra-UK divergence through common frameworks and the UK Internal Market Act exclusions process;
- the potential impact of the UK internal market access principles on devolved law in Scotland as a result of changes under the bill to the law in another part of the UK;
- the possibility of acceleration of regulatory divergence between the UK and the EU;
- the seriousness of the challenge that the bill presents for the Scottish Government’s alignment policy; and
- uncertainty that could arise from the changing interpretation of legal principles and conventions applying to retained EU law and its interaction with other domestic law.
The two Conservative MSPs on the committee dissented from the report's conclusions.
Committee convener Clare Adamson MSP said: "The evidence we heard was stark and there is deep concern over the legislative ‘cliff edge’ and the threat this bill poses in key areas. But the committee’s concerns on this bill go beyond this and are deep and wide ranging.
"We are once again in a position of highlighting the strain that intergovernmental processes face post-Brexit. And to have to do so again is deeply frustrating."
She added: "Far-reaching policy changes should be made via a bill, and not through secondary legislation.
"We ask our colleagues in the House of Lords and Westminster to carefully consider the issues we have raised in our report."