Johnson unveils ‘Brexit freedom’ bill to shed EU regulation
The government is set to bring forward a new “Brexit Freedoms” bill, which aims to make it easier to shed EU regulations post-Brexit.
Number 10 said tonight that the reforms will cut £1bn of red tape, with the proposed measures set to be published by the government later today.
It added that the new bill will “ensure that changes can be made more easily, so that the UK can capitalise on Brexit freedoms more quickly”.
The UK has retained many EU laws since leaving the bloc in January 2020, with Tory Brexiteers pushing for the government to take advantage of Britain’s new status and to slash regulation.
This includes former cabinet minister Lord David Frost who, channeling Margaret Thatcher, said in November last year that “we have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the European Union from Britain with Brexit, only to import that European model after all this time”.
In a statement, Johnson said: “The plans we have set out today will further unleash the benefits of Brexit and ensure that businesses can spend more of their money investing, innovating and creating jobs.
“Our new Brexit Freedoms Bill will end the special status of EU law in our legal framework and ensure that we can more easily amend or remove outdated EU law in future”.
Labour shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry MP, said: “For all this talk from the government about the potential legislative freedom we have outside the EU, they still refuse to make a concrete change the Labour Party has been demanding in this area for months, which is the removal of VAT on people’s energy bills.
“The British public overwhelmingly support Labour’s proposed change, and it is time the government started listening.”