European Union Reform Bill gets Second Reading

The legislation seeking to sunset European Union (EU) law by the end of next year if it is not kept by Parliament has had its Second Reading in the Commons.

BEIS minister Dean Russell moved the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill following the return to the back benches of former business secretary, Jacob Rees Mogg, who initially presented the Bill.

Environmentalists and others fear the Habitats Regulations will be removed, ending statutory protection for nature, and forming part of the trigger for their #AttackOnNature campaign. While many Conservative MPs spoke in support of the Bill, challenges came from across the House on the environmental protection point.

• Stella Creasy, Labour, Walthamstow asked: “Will the minister be honest with the House? He says that the Bill will allow us to have the highest standards, but clause 15 formally confirms that we can only go down, and we can only have a race to the bottom, because it talks explicitly about not increasing burdens. Will the Minister tell the House who voted to lower our environmental protections in the referendum?”

• Desmond Swayne, Conservative, New Forest West: “How will the minister answer the intemperate correspondence to which many of us have been subjected, announcing that the Bill will provide for the rape of the countryside and the destruction of wildlife? Will he be able to persuade people that this is a proportionate measure that will allow us to choose the regulations by which we wish to live, and judge them on their merits?”

• Caroline Lucas, Green, Brighton Pavilion: “The minister said earlier that the Bill was proportionate, but that is exactly what it is not, particularly given the sunset clause that means that Defra will have to go through revising and amending more than one piece of law a day between now and the end of next year. It is not proportionate; it is indiscriminate. It is also ideologically driven. Does he agree that Defra staff have better things to be doing, given that they are already late on the river basins management programme and the 25-year environment plan, and that the idea that the Department has the staff and resources to do that is irresponsible?”

Russell’s responded: “I can be very honest in saying that the Bill will ensure that we have the highest standards, and within the process of this framework we will ensure that the burdens of delivering the best possible regulatory scheme are removed, while ensuring that we have the highest standards across all we do.”