Michael Zander on how the Government’s U-turn was greeted by the House of Lords at the Report stage of the Bill
- Peers welcomed the Government’s decision to remove 587 pieces of legislation as opposed to nearly 5,000, but there was much criticism of the inadequate time for consideration of the scheduled list.
- The Scottish and the Welsh legislative assemblies have refused assent to the Bill.
At the end of my piece on the committee stage of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill I wrote: ‘Might the many cogent criticisms of the Bill advanced from all sides in the debates be reflected in government amendments at the report stage?’. There was no indication then of any such intention, but the Easter break resulted in a major breakthrough.
The sunsetting at the end of this year of what is now thought to be nearly 5,000 items of EU retained subsidiary legislation or retained direct EU legislation is being replaced by the removal on 31 December 2023 of only 587 pieces of legislation.
