Alliance Party in bid to blunt European Union repeal bill in House of Commons

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said the bill – which intends to potentially scrap thousands of European Union laws – will help boost growth.

Cabinet ministers discussed the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill yesterday, with a deadline of removing or reforming all Brussels-made rules on British statute books by the end of the year.

The bill will return to the Commons today.

The prime minister said: “Developing the best regulatory environment in the UK will be crucial to accelerating our economic recovery and driving growth, innovation, and competitiveness as part of plans to build a better future across the country.

“Cabinet agreed none of this work was about watering down standards, such as our strong record on workers’ rights, maternity rights, or environmental protection, having raised domestic standards over recent years to make them some of the highest in the world.”

The legislation is designed to make it easier for the UK government, via Parliament, to amend, repeal and replace EU law retained after Brexit.

It also allows nearly all remaining retained EU law to be either repealed or absorbed into UK domestic law by December 31, 2023.

But it has proved controversial, with some MPs calling it a “power grab” and others – including some senior Tory MPs – questioning the extent of parliamentary oversight for such a process.

Alliance MP Stephen Farry has tabled an amendment to the bill, which he says is “aimed at protecting legislation in the Northern Ireland devolved space” from the actions of the London government.

He estimates “as many as 500 pieces of local legislation will be subject to revocation under the bill”.

He said: “With Northern Ireland’s civil service already under huge pressure, it is madness to expect them to deal with the imminent upending of critical legislation.”

He dubbed the bill “the Tories’ latest reckless attempt to become a deregulated Singapore on the Thames”, adding: “I will be opposing this Bill every step of the way and urge the Government to scrap it.”