Clause 24 - References to Community instruments
Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill
1:30 pm
Oliver Heald (Shadow Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs & Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Assisted By Shadow Solicitor General), Constitutional Affairs; North East Hertfordshire, Conservative)
We are on to a different area—changes to the way in which legislation from the Europe Union is dealt with in this place.
Clause 24, if one reads the notes, is a provision that when a Community instrument—a directive or regulation—is mentioned in a Bill, it should not be necessary to recite all the various amendments that have been made to it over the years. That is thought to be a straightforward improvement to the way in which legislation is drafted. However, I am worried about the wording. If the EU makes a directive or a regulation and then we in the UK pass a Bill, in which the EU legislation is referred to, to give it effect, but then the instrument is changed, the courts in this country would be forced, by that change, to treat the new instrument as though it were the one referred to in the Bill. In other words, are we creating an automatic change to our law every time the EU changes its provisions? That seems to go beyond the description in the notes.
I should be grateful if the Minister would confirm that the situation is as described in the notes, and that there will be no automatic change in the law in this country, every time the Community changes its law, without reference back to the House.