Brexit: Call for rethink on ditching thousands of EU laws

National Farmers Union Cymru fears important agricultural regulations could be lost

UK government plans to scrap thousands of EU laws at the end of 2023 should be reconsidered, according to a cross-party group of Senedd members.

The Welsh Parliament's legislation committee heard the legal disruption could harm vital health, environmental and agricultural regulation.

The committee raises its concerns about the Retained EU Law Bill in a letter to UK Business Secretary Grant Shapps.

UK ministers say they want to take "advantage of the benefits of Brexit".

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EU laws were copied into domestic law when the UK left the European Union on 31 January 2020, and kept during a transition period that ended in January 2021.

There have been moves away from some of those laws in areas including immigration since then, but thousands of regulations - known as retained EU law - are still in force.

The Retained EU Law Bill, currently being considered by MPs at Westminster, contains a "sunset clause" that means that, by the end of next year, some laws could expire automatically.

What sort of laws?

The Welsh NHS Confederation, representing health bodies, has warned that rules on information consumers must be given about allergens and nutritional content in food, for example, could be lost "due to a lack of oversight".

The UK Environmental Law Association highlighted a "significant risk that the substance as well as the coherence of environmental law and policy in Wales (and throughout the UK) will be undermined and weakened".

And farmers' union NFU Cymru emphasised "we run the risk of discarding important regulatory protections".

Counsel general Mick Antoniw MS, Welsh government senior adviser on legal matters, told the Senedd last month there were "something like 2,400 pieces of legislation" involved.

"Basically, this would almost completely overwhelm not only the UK government's legislative programme, but ours as well, if we were to try and address this," he said.

Thousands of EU laws still apply to Wales and the UK

The UK government is seeking Welsh Parliament consent for its plans, because they concern matters the Senedd and the Welsh government are responsible for.

In his letter to Grant Shapps, also addressed to Industry and Investment Security Minister Nusrat Ghani, Senedd legislation committee chair Huw Irranca-Davies wrote: "Stakeholders have expressed to us deep concerns about the extent of the task at hand and the significant pressure caused by, what is seen by many as, a completely unnecessary sunset date of 31 December 2023."

The Labour Senedd member also says his committee "can see no reason why the power to extend the sunset date" contained in the legislation "should not also be granted to the Welsh ministers for devolved matters".

What do UK ministers say?

A UK government spokesperson said they were "committed to taking full advantage of the benefits of Brexit, which is why we are pushing ahead with our Retained EU Law Bill".

"We continue to engage with the devolved administrations on the progress and policy of the bill, supporting them as they review any retained EU law that falls within their devolved powers.

"There are no plans to change the sunset deadline."