It has no impact on the Windsor agreement. I am assured by my colleagues and my briefing here that it has no impact.
Amendment 49, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Randerson, seeks to ensure that the UK Government have a complete understanding of their catalogue of REUL by allowing a Minister of the Crown to request that the devolved Governments identify REUL in areas of devolved competence within the scope of the sunset. While I concur with the sentiment of this amendment, again, the Government do not believe it is necessary but recognise the importance of having a shared and single understanding of reserved and devolved REUL across the UK Government and the devolved Governments.
We have established regular intergovernmental meetings intended to support devolved government counterparts with the identification of which REUL is devolved or reserved, as part of the REUL reform programme. Departments are also actively engaging directly with their devolved government counterparts as part of their business-as-usual engagement on the devolved status of REUL and their plans for REUL reform. On the point about pre-1999 legislation, where the legislation
is devolved, the decision should be for devolved government Ministers, just like any other piece of devolved REUL. We will set out in writing the methodology for identifying REUL on the dashboard, as already committed by my noble friend Lady Neville-Rolfe in the session on Tuesday.
Amendment 33, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Ritchie of Downpatrick, would exempt from the sunset legislation relating to human rights, equality or environmental protection to the extent that the legislation has effect in Northern Ireland, including legislation within scope of Article 2 of the Northern Ireland protocol. We fully intend to maintain the UK’s leading role in the promotion and protection of human rights, equality, the rule of law and environmental protections. We are proud of our long and diverse history of freedoms and are committed to ensuring that the necessary legislation is in place to uphold the UK’s international obligations, including the withdrawal agreement, the Northern Ireland protocol, and the trade and co-operation agreement after the sunset date.
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The provisions within the Bill, including the sunset, are not intended to undermine our hard-won human rights or equality legislation. As I and Ministers in the other place have already stated, we have committed to take the necessary action to ensure that our international obligations continue to be met so that the terms of the withdrawal agreement—including our international human rights obligations—are upheld after the sunset date. This Government have also been clear that we will uphold our environmental protections. The UK is a world leader in environmental protection, and in reviewing our REUL we want to ensure that environmental law is fit for purpose and able to drive improved environmental outcomes.
Amendment 147 relates to exempting Northern Ireland from the territorial extent of the Bill. This Government’s mission is to deliver economic prosperity for citizens in every part of the UK, so that the whole of the UK can benefit from the ability to reform and amend their retained EU law. Furthermore, this amendment would mean that even laws in reserved areas would not be covered by the provisions of the Bill, insofar as those laws extended to Northern Ireland. I reiterate that the Government are committed to ensuring that the provisions within the Bill work for all parts of the UK, and we are committed to ongoing discussions with the devolved Governments throughout the Bill’s passage.
In response to the comments of the noble Baroness, Lady O’Grady, on the extension power, I say that there are good arguments for a single sunset across the UK, and conferring the extension power on the devolved Governments would introduce additional legal complexity. Specifically, it might result in different pieces and descriptions of retained EU law expiring at different times in different Administrations in the UK, and those pieces of retained EU law may cover a mix of reserved and devolved policy areas, creating confusion. Therefore we remain committed to working collaboratively with devolved officials and are keen to continue discussing this policy as it progresses to ensure that this power works for all parts of the UK.
In response to concern from the noble Baroness, Lady Anderson, about the choice of sunset date as June 2026—oh, I am not sure that was her.