Conclusion
69.As the pressures of the pandemic eased off, we expected the Government to return to normal legislative practice and diligence when preparing secondary legislation and its supporting material. We were therefore disappointed with the quality of some of the secondary legislation and the supporting material laid in this session.
70.In this report, and the reports we have published throughout the session, we have made several criticisms, including criticisms of points of detail but also more fundamental criticisms that relate to the relationship between Parliament and government. We considered some of these wider concerns in more depth in our report Government by Diktat and, as these are concerns about matters of principle that go to the very heart of the relationship between Parliament and government, we will be looking further into these issues in the forthcoming session.
71.One of the major objectives of Brexit was the restoration of parliamentary legislative sovereignty. It is therefore essential that in the so-called Brexit Freedoms Bill and any consequential legislation that objective should be upheld and remain central. According to the Government, the Bill will “make it easier to amend or remove outdated retained EU law” and will “accompany a major cross-government drive to reform, repeal and replace outdated EU law”.62 We take the view that, in doing so, the Bill should respect and safeguard Parliament’s fundamental constitutional role in the effective scrutiny of primary and secondary legislation.
62 Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street, Press Release, Prime Minister pledges Brexit Freedoms Bill to cut EU red tape on (31 January 2022): https://www.gov.uk/government/news/prime-minister-pledges-brexit-freedoms-bill-to-cut-eu-red-tape [accessed 26 April 2022].