My Lords, it has been a bit of a saga getting to where we are, but it is incredibly welcome that Ministers have tabled the amendments before us today. This means that we do not need to debate my Amendment 6, which would have had a similar effect to the Government’s amendments. I also welcome the Government’s acceptance of my Amendment 9, which deletes Clause 2.
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There are still major problems with the Bill. The first issue is this. On Wednesday evening the Government published a schedule of retained law that departments have identified for removal on 31 December this year. This list of 650 pieces of law came without explanation of why each item is to be revoked, whether it is redundant or duplicated elsewhere and, if so, where we can find the relevant successor legislation. We will debate items in the schedule more fully later—and, clearly, we are pleased that the automatic sunset has been removed—but it is ridiculous to publish the revocation list so late in the day. I now have the explainer—as does the noble Lord, Lord Fox, I think—but I believe other noble Lords still do not have it. We did not get it until 2.26 pm today. We should not really have had to ask for it; all noble Lords should have had it before now.
We note that Ministers have given themselves and the devolved authorities until 31 October as a cooling-off period, in case there are still mistakes in this list. Perhaps we could be more confident in the contents of the list had it been available sooner and included the rationale for each decision earlier. Supposing for a minute there is no dispute over the contents of the schedule, the problem remains that there is still great uncertainty about the Government’s intentions. Statements are made to the press implying that regulations such as working time directives will be removed, and assurances are given to Parliament that workers’ rights are safe in the Government’s hands. We are not helped by the
Government’s refusal so far to allow adequate parliamentary scrutiny of changes to important regulations that will come about as a result of the Bill. This is continuing to cause concern inside and outside this House.
We on these Benches therefore strongly support Amendment 2 in the name of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Hope. I am not going to repeat his argument. It is a straightforward process of sifting so that any items identified as substantial and listed for revocation can be considered properly. I do not see this as a huge burden on the Government. Ministers themselves are clearly concerned that there are errors in the list, or they would not have given themselves until 31 October to correct any mistakes. I hope the noble and learned Lord, Lord Hope, puts his amendment to a vote as he will have the support of these Benches. It would be even better for the Minister to indicate that the Government are willing to accept the idea.
We welcome the Government’s amendments, but this Bill really ought to serve as a lesson to lawmakers—now and in the future—that legislating in a factional interest, rather than the national interest, is always a mistake.