As the UK Government prepares to trigger Article 50 this week, a think tank warns of plan for huge concentration of power
THE UK GOVERNMENT is preparing to use the Great Repeal Bill to concentrate power in the hands of its ministers after triggering Article 50, according to a new report.
In research conducted for campaign groups Global Justice Now (GJN) and Another Europe is Possible (AEP), legal academics have expressed fears that ministers could gain the power to repeal rights, protections and standards outside of parliamentary scrutiny.
They fear that the UK Government will use the bill to “pick and choose” what democratic checks and EU laws it brings back from Brussels.
The report precedes the triggering of Article 50 this week on 29 March and calls for a detailed list by the UK Government of what EU laws it wants to keep and scrap.
“A bill aimed at “taking back control” will actually represent the disenfranchisement of ordinary voters on a historic scale.” Sam Fowles
Legal researcher at Queen Mary University Sam Fowles, the author of the briefing and a spokesperson for AEP said: “The Great Repeal Bill is almost unprecedented in scope, form, and lasting effects. It has the potential to empower the government to effectively legislate without the consent of parliament. So far, there has been an almost total absence of transparency in the government’s approach.
“A bill aimed at “taking back control” will actually represent the disenfranchisement of ordinary voters on a historic scale.”
The Great Repeal Bill has been proposed by the UK Government to undo the European Communities Act 1972 (ECA), and convert thousands of EU laws into UK law. The hope is such a process would grant legal and regulatory certainty to businesses and institutions during the Brexit process.
All laws that take effect in the UK as a result of EU membership are to be converted into UK law and then removed, replaced or maintained by the UK parliament. However, the authors of the report state that there is no procedure put in place to make sure the UK Government has to consult parliament on which laws it will remove or maintain.
“We fear the Great Repeal Bill will make extensive use of so-called Henry VIII powers which will allow government ministers to make substantial changes to our legal system without proper parliamentary scrutiny.” Nick Dearden
The bill comes at a time when the Scottish Government has expressed fears that powers promised to the Scottish Parliament will not only be withheld by the UK Government but powers will be repatriated from the devolved parliament to Westminster.
The report claims that such a process and the powers proposed in the bill risk sidelining parliament as a decision-making body and turning the UK Government into a completely unscrutinised body. The government can in effect “pick and mix” the EU norms that will survive its scrapping of the ECA.
Nick Dearden, the director of GJN, said: “We fear the Great Repeal Bill will make extensive use of so-called Henry VIII powers which will allow government ministers to make substantial changes to our legal system without proper parliamentary scrutiny.
“Even in Tudor times these powers were controversial. Today they could allow ministers to jettison equality legislation, workers’ rights and environmental protections. We know that MPs have an enormous task here, but these changes must happen in a way that doesn’t involve granting Theresa May the powers of a renaissance monarch.”
Picture courtesy of Herry Lawford
Check out what people are saying about how important CommonSpace is: Pledge your support today.
