London, UK: The UK government has ditched its commitment to remove all European Union laws by the end of 2023. Instead it will amend the retained EU law bill to clarify only those laws it intends to revoke this year, the government said.
Today, business and trade minister Kemi Badenoch said that rather than automatically revoking almost all retained EU law, the government would amend the bill to propose to revoke only about 600 out of around 4,000 retained EU laws. “Today the government is tabling an amendment… which will replace the current sunset in the Bill with a list of the retained EU laws that we intend to revoke under the Bill at the end of 2023,” Badenoch said in a statement.
“This provides certainty for business by making it clear which regulations will be removed from our statue book, instead of highlighting only the REUL [Retained EU Law] that would be saved.”
The cold chain and logistics industry has been highly critical of the planned removal of all EU law and the potential destabilising effect on Business. Shane Brennan, chief executive, Cold Chain Federation, said: “I wish ministers would recognise that there is far more risk involved in this strategy than there is opportunity.
David Wells, chief executive, Logistics UK said: “The lack of clarity over what will need to change, and by when, is causing great uncertainty across our industry, a sector which is at the heart of all trading relationships both domestically and internationally.”
