Britain begins huge task of making EU laws its own

LONDON — A day after triggering its European Union (EU) exit process, the British government yesterday began outlining how it intends to convert thousands of EU rules into British law when it leaves the bloc in 2019.

The government published a White Paper on the Great Repeal Bill that will transform more than 12,000 EU laws in force in Britain into United Kingdom statute so that “the same rules will apply after exit day” as before.

Brexit Secretary David Davis told British lawmakers the Bill would ensure that British laws are made not in Brussels but “in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast”. “Once EU law has been converted into domestic law, Parliament will be able to pass legislation to amend, repeal or improve any piece of EU law it chooses — as will the devolved legislatures, where they have power to do so,” he said.

The Bill is designed to prevent Britain plunging into a legislative black hole once it extricates itself from the EU.

The White Paper came as the Brexit department — or the Department for Exiting the European Union as it is officially known — issued a briefing overnight on Wednesday that up to 1,000 new orders would have to be passed for the government to convert EU legislation into UK law.

Mr Davis said yesterday that more steps are needed to ensure a smooth exit from the EU. “This is because a large number of laws — both existing domestic laws and those we convert into UK law — will not work properly if we leave the EU without taking further action,” he said.

To overcome this, Mr Davis said the Bill will create temporary powers to allow ministers to tweak laws that would otherwise not “work appropriately” after Brexit.

But opposition lawmakers are unhappy at plans to give government ministers power to change some laws without votes in Parliament. They fear the Conservative government will use it as a chance to water down workers’ rights and environmental protections introduced in Britain during four decades of EU membership.

Labour Party Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer said the proposed Bill “gives sweeping powers to the executive” and lacks “rigorous safeguards”.

However, Mr Davis insisted the executive powers will be time-limited and will only be used to make “mechanical changes” so laws can be applied smoothly, adding that it is trying to balance “the need for scrutiny and the need for speed”. He also said Parliament will be able to scrutinise all “substantive policy changes” including new immigration laws, and that environmental, workplace and human rights standards will remain. AGENCIES