I made the point earlier that, when departments are reviewing their legislation and any modifications they might need to make to statutory instruments, they will of course want to take account of the fact that the general principles of EU law will no longer apply in the UK and make any modifications that would be required.
I move on to the somewhat related point raised by the noble Baroness, Lady O’Grady. Let me be clear that retained case law—this comes back to the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Chapman—is not and cannot be directly sunsetted, as it consists of judges’ judgments, which are essentially statements of historical fact. Where general principles and other interpretive
effects are removed by the Bill in Clauses 3 to 5, it would be expected that courts would continue to consider relevant case law where it is clear from the restatement that that is the intention.
Amendment 67 would introduce an extension power for the removal of general principles of EU law, as well as the abolition of supremacy and the repeal of Section 4 of the 2018 Act, as I have already set out. Removing these complex legal glosses will, in my view, satisfy the noble Baroness, Lady Ludford, and improve the clarity of our domestic law. It is imperative that we end them as soon as is reasonably practicable.
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I turn to the amendments to Clause 6 and Schedule 1, which establish “assimilated law” as a body of law from the end of 2023. These proposed changes are part of the ending of the special status of retained EU law by the Bill. Amendments 70 to 72, 74 and 75 from the noble Baroness, Lady Mcintosh, intend to move the date from which retained EU law will be known as assimilated law to the end of 2028. As I have said to the noble Baroness, the Government propose an ambitious programme of retained EU law reform and will therefore be ending the special status of retained EU law at the end of 2023.
Finally, I turn to Amendment 76 from the noble and learned Lord, Lord Hope, who is unfortunately no longer in his place. Clause 6 provides that a UK Government Minister may use the consequential power conferred by Clause 19 to change references to “retained EU law” contained in other enactments to “assimilated law” and related terms. Engagement is already well established between the UK and devolved Governments on the process of renaming individual references to “retained EU law”. The UK Government making consequential provision for “assimilated law” will ensure that these technical amendments are made efficiently and follow a consistent approach.
The Government are engaged in a programme of reform to ensure that our statute book is fit for purpose. The measures taken by the Bill will allow us to be as responsive as possible to the issues facing our citizens and to implement fit-for-purpose solutions for the people of the UK.
Before the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, intervenes, I reassure him that we are not aware of any representations from the European Commission or other member states on the purposes of the Bill.