Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill

Written evidence submitted by Ms Viviane Doussy (REULB69)

Dear Sir/Madam,

Written Evidence Objecting to t he R EU L (Revocation and Reform) Bill

I believe the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill is fundamentally flawed and dangerous for the following reasons:

1. It is a framework Bill with a sunset provision, meaning that any piece of Retained EU Law (REUL) will be revoked automatically and by default at the end of December 2023 unless Ministers actively decide to save it by that point. This Bill gives unprecedented powers to Government Ministers to decide whether to amend, retain or revoke any of the at least 2417 pieces of REUL, as they see fit. The usual Parliamentary review and scrutiny process is eroded and abdicated by this Bill. This is an extremely dangerous approach in favour of the Bill’s aim to make legislation less burdensome ie "not to increase the regulatory burden on business".

2. According to the Government’s own "Dashboard of REUL", thousands of items of legislation and regulation have been identified for review and are till awaiting transposition into UK law by 31st December 2023. The solid pathway to protection of habitats and species has not been worked out since Brexit. A mountain of legislative work thus now remains before automatically sunsetting (ending) these pieces of regulation within a year. It seems no plan or proposal exists, indicating how the Government will tackle this workload within the timeline, other than cutting corners and abdicating its responsibility as mentioned above. This causes tension and unnecessary fragility in the legal, economic and political arena at a time when there is already so much upheaval and uncertainty.

3. A very large framework of laws and sound protection for wildlife and the environment has been built up through Britain's historic contribution to European law over almost 50 years. The revocation of around 570 regulations protecting habitat and nature through this Bill, all in a single act of defiance 'to get Brexit done', is suicide. If we do not ensure clean air, quality drink water, unpolluted soils and a network of functioning ecosystems, we are at huge risk of environmental degradation, instability and indeed catastrophe. Furthermore, this will not impact the environment in isolation; it will affect everything including the economic, political and the social structures upon which we depend. Protecting natural assets, not business growth, is at the centre of our lives and our ability to thrive.

I have no legal background and write simply as a Citizen very concerned with this Bill. Our rights and equality, H&S at work, COSHH, food regulation etc. are all in jeopardy through this REUL (Revocation and Reform) Bill. Above all, I am deeply concerned that nature and the environment should remain protected as an essential element to the survival of our interconnected web of species, habitats and ecosystems.

In my view we need to see this Bill drastically amended to ensure the following:

· Proper Parliamentary scrutiny needs to be reinstated for all regulation.

· Without a Government roadmap, the replacement and indeed improvement of the large body of regulatory workload is not achievable within the one-year timeline. Hence automatically scrapping the REUL legislation (unless specifically saved) is unacceptable. The default position should instead be the automatic transfer of all these EU laws into UK law. That way we retain the majority of our current legislation without an enormous legislative burden.

Overall though, this Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill remains fundamentally flawed and not fit for purpose. As it stands it should therefore not be supported in its passage through Parliament. I sincerely hope enough MPs will stand up in favour of a total rethink.

Best regards,

Ms Viviane Doussy

CC Andrew Griffith MP, Arundel and the South Downs

18th November 2022