My Lords, I am delighted to follow the noble Baroness. My amendments are a little more directly addressed to probing the clarity as regards the date on which the sunset provisions come into effect, while allowing a five-year additional timeline, which is needed for the reasons we have heard over the first two days in Committee.
I speak in support of Amendments 27 and 28. Amendment 28 was drafted by me and I prefer the amendment drafted by the Law Society of Scotland. I am delighted to have the support of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Hope of Craighead, as well in that regard. The amendments probe the Government on providing clarity about and extending the date on which the sunset provisions come into effect. As we now know, Clause 1(1) provides for the revocation of all “EU-derived subordinate legislation” and “retained direct EU legislation” by the end of 2023, although that date is very vague. The Law Society of Scotland expresses its serious concern that the proposed statutory deadline of “the end of 2023” does not appear to allow sufficient time to enable the review of retained European Union law to be completed properly, after due consultation with the devolved Administrations and relevant stakeholders, including UK parliamentary and devolved legislature committees.
The additional time could also be used for a more thoughtful approach to amending or repealing retained European Union law. The choice of date should be made on the application of good legislative practice, including consideration and analysis of the legislation involved, and consultation with those who will be affected by the variation or revocation proposed by the regulations in question. The later date that I set out in Amendment 27 will allow for that process to be completed.
Furthermore, the reference to “the end of 2023” in Clause 1(1), as referred to above, is vague. I therefore suggest that this reference should be defined with greater precision in as
“11:59 pm on 31 December 2028”
following the precedent of the definition of IP completion day found in Section 39(1) of the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020. I hope that, in summing up, my noble friend will approve both the specific reference to the time and date, and the extension of five years.
We heard for the first time officially today—unofficially yesterday in the briefing—that the default position of Defra is to retain all EU law. But, as we discovered, that is not stated in the Bill so, emerging from Amendment 27, I put two options to my noble friend the Minister this evening. The Government should either, in the spirit of openness, publish in an easily accessible format all the retained EU law that is to be retained and, alternatively, that to be revoked; or, as proposed in Amendment 27, they should insert a later, clearer deadline of 2028 to ensure that no instrument lapses by default.
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I think it was my noble friend Lady Neville-Rolfe who referred to this as an enabling Bill. I would say that more appropriately it is a disabling Bill, because we are disabling retained EU law. In the case of Defra, over 1,700 instruments have been transposed into UK law as part of retained EU law over a two-year period.
I refer briefly to the letter from my noble friend Lady Bloomfield to the Committee, sent during proceedings this afternoon. In a moment I will talk briefly about the government amendments in this group, but there appears to be one omission which will not necessarily be covered by what my noble friend is proposing to do in his amendments. It was referred to by the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, in the informal briefing yesterday. She had a reply, from which we have all benefited, in the letter from my noble friend Lady Bloomfield. To quote from the letter,
“departments could use the extension power in Clause 2 of the Bill to extend specific pieces of retained EU law, without interpretive effects, until 23 June 2026. Departments could then use the other powers in the Bill to reform assimilated REUL. If departments wish to reform retained EU law in 2023 they can use the powers to revoke or replace and then that reformed piece of law will no longer be subject to the sunset.”
The question I put to my noble friend this evening is this: what is the status of that law? To which category or bucket—whichever my noble friend wants to describe it as—does it then fall? If we do not understand that as parliamentarians, how on earth are the businesses and industries affected by all the retained EU law going to know in their specific circumstances what the status of the reformed category of legislation will be?
Why has my noble friend chosen this moment to come forward with government Amendments 31, 41 and 45? We put it to him on a number of occasions, most recently at the informal briefing—for which I am very grateful—we received yesterday, primarily on the environmental aspects. The question has to be asked, particularly on Amendment 45 in my noble friend’s name, why exceptions to the sunset—we have now set a precedent in the Bill that there will be exceptions to the sunset—are being limited to one category of provisions of retained EU law, those relating to financial services law?
In the previous group and the first group of amendments, a very strong argument was made for specific categories. The one that I most closely identify with is the environmental category, as I have been an MP, an MEP and now sit in this House. I would like to know about the timing of the amendments my noble friend is seeking to bring forward and why they were
not brought before the House of Commons at an earlier stage in proceedings. Having set the precedent that exceptions can be made, why is my noble friend seeking to limit them to only one narrow category?
Before I sit down, I speak warmly in favour of Amendment 63 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Jolly, to which I have added my name. I will leave her to set out the excellent reasons why the Committee would wish to adopt it, but I would like to lend my strongest possible support.