Chapter 1: Introduction
1.This report describes the work undertaken by the European Union (EU) Committee and its Sub-Committees over the 2016–17 Session. Since the 23 June 2016 referendum on whether the UK should remain in or leave the EU, the Committee has sought to examine the implications of Brexit across a wide range of policy areas, publishing 17 Brexit-related reports, all agreed unanimously, which taken as a whole amount to the one of the most wide-ranging and detailed analyses of Brexit yet to appear. We summarise this work in Chapter 2.
2.While Brexit has dominated the Committee’s workload, we have also continued to fulfil our responsibilities to consider European Union documents and other matters relating to the European Union. During the 2016–17 Session, we scrutinised 140 EU legislative proposals and documents, and conducted inquiries on unaccompanied migrant children in the EU and the legality of EU sanctions. We reflect on this work in Chapter 3.
3.Our Brexit reports, in particular, have influenced the public policy debate, in Government and in Parliament, and have attracted an unprecedented level of interest and media coverage. They have been accompanied by an enhanced level of interparliamentary dialogue with colleagues in the devolved legislatures, the European Parliament and other national parliaments. We summarise the impact of our work in Chapter 4.
4.The EU Committee, which dates back to 1974, is, with its Sub-Committees, the largest Committee in either House, involving 73 Members and 24 staff. We have published an Annual Report each session since 2003 to explain how we use those valuable resources, underlining our continuing accountability to the House, and, through the House, to the public.
5.We are convinced that Select Committees of both Houses have an important part to play in scrutinising the ongoing Brexit negotiations. In the final chapter of this report we outline how we propose in coming months to approach this task.
6.In the longer term, there will need to be a debate on whether and how the House of Lords should scrutinise the future relationship between the UK and the EU. We look forward to contributing to that debate.
The European Union Committee
7.The Committee’s terms of reference, along with the underpinning Scrutiny Reserve Resolution, can be found at Appendix 3. The Committee seeks to inform the House of Lords, to hold the Government to account, to influence the European institutions, and to engage with stakeholders. Committee staff promote these objectives by means of the Committee’s website (http://www.parliament.uk/hleu) and its Twitter account (@LordsEUCom). The House of Lords Press Office provides support in media relations.
8.Finally, the House of Lords is represented in Brussels by a National Parliament Representative, who forms part of the UK’s National Parliament Office, based in the European Parliament in Brussels. The National Parliament Representative’s job is twofold: informing this Committee of the activities of the European and other national parliaments, as well as the other EU institutions; and informing our European colleagues of the work being undertaken by the Committee and the House. This includes distributing our substantive reports and liaising with other national parliaments’ officials about subsidiarity issues.
9.We make this report to the House for information.