Plans to scrap EU-derived laws following Brexit have been called “not fit for purpose” in an independent impact assessment.
The Retained EU Law Bill (REUL) was introduced to parliament in September, and if passed could potentially lead to the removal of a range of workers’ rights including paid annual holiday rules, working time restrictions and TUPE regulations.
Some employment lawyers had warned of a “bonfire” of protections for workers, who are currently entitled to a fixed number of paid holidays and restricted to a 48-hour working week unless they choose to opt out.
The impact assessment from the regulatory policy committee (RPC) has now concluded that “the Department [for Business, Enterprise and Industrial Strategy] has not sufficiently considered, or sought to quantify, the full impacts of the Bill”. It adds that the Bill in its current form “does not include a consideration of the impact on small and micro businesses”.
It claims the arguments for sunsetting more than 2,400 pieces of regulation as part of REUL are weak, and accuses the Department of failing to undertake “any substantive analysis” to support the Bill or to look at the impact of regulations that have previously been removed.
Retained EU Law Bill
New EU law Bill could lead to bonfire of workes’ rights in UK
“We are not assured that the impact of changing or sunsetting each piece of REUL will be calculated or understood under proposals currently in place – particularly where no related secondary legislation is required,” it says.
The government had proposed that retained EU regulations would be removed from the UK statute book by 31 December 2023.
The impact assessment points out that the Bill includes an intention for individual government departments to decide which regulations should be updated, restated, repealed or revoked, with a power to extend the removal date to 2026.
This creates “a high degree of uncertainty” about the fate of different pieces of legislation, it adds, but there is also little justification for the December 2023 deadline.
“[The government] must provide a stronger argument for why the sunsetting of REUL is necessary, as opposed to merely setting a deadline to complete the review and change of REUL, including appropriate and robust evidence to support this position,” the assessment adds.
A government spokesperson told the Guardian newspaper that the outcome of the impact assessment was “disappointing” but said many other Bills had received such a rating.
“Naturally with the immense scope of the freedoms this bill will enable, and the various sectors and departments it involves, it is difficult to quantify impacts in the impact assessment at this time,” the spokesperson said.
“The government is committed to taking full advantage of the benefits of Brexit, which is why we are pushing ahead with our retained EU law bill, which will end the special legal status of all retained EU law.
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“This will allow us to ensure our laws and regulations best fit the needs of the country, removing needless bureaucracy in order to support jobs, whilst keeping important protections and safeguards.”
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