Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 2:35 pm on 25 October 2022.

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Photo of Dean Russell Dean Russell Chair, Speaker's Advisory Committee on Works of Art, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) 2:35, 25 October 2022

I will come back to the hon. and learned Lady shortly.

As has been alluded to, some naysayers have asked, “Why is the Bill needed?” As a consequence of the oddities created by our previous EU membership, there are currently insufficient powers to make subordinate legislation to enable the amendment or removal of retained EU law from the statute book. The practical result is that standards do not get updated when they should be. Regulation, rather than adapting to support the needs of businesses in stable and emerging markets, ends up holding British businesses back. That is simply wrong, particularly when businesses and consumers face high energy bills and food prices as well as the many other challenges that we know are down to world events, and in particular the awful actions of President Putin. With our new-found freedom, it is important that we take the necessary powers to bridge the gap and reform legislation in a timely manner.