The so-called Brexit Freedoms Bill should be scrapped
The so-called Brexit Freedoms Bill should be scrapped and individual laws prioritised for reform, according to the Scottish Greens. The call came from Scottish Green MSP Mark Ruskell during a parliamentary debate on The Impact of Brexit on Devolution.
The Bill would remove at least 2400 instruments of retained EU law, risking the loss of protections for people and our environment.
Commenting after the debate, Mark Ruskell MSP said:
“None of the disastrous Brexit outcomes have been surprising, but that doesn’t make them any less painful. The UK Government was repeatedly warned about the economic implications of leaving the single market and ending free movement, but did it anyway.
“It would be an act of enormous self sabotage if the so-called ‘Brexit Freedoms Bill’ resulted in a bonfire of the very laws that the UK helped to write.
“There are so many protections and rights that we all rely on, which unless saved will fall off the cliff edge next year. From equal pay to nature protection, laws must be saved and retained. The Bill should be scrapped and individual laws prioritised for reform.
“If the UK government lights the bonfire then it will put huge pressure on every democratic institution, every government department, every minister and parliamentarian in every parliament and assembly across the UK.
“Parliamentary oversight is a cornerstone of our British democracy. Yet we see post-Brexit legislation coming before both parliaments with broad sweeping ministerial powers, even the powers to amend primary legislation itself without parliamentary consent is on the menu.
“We may have lost the machinery of the European Union. But it's those European values of openness and democracy that are now more important than ever and we should uphold and defend them in this parliament.”