Jacob Rees Mogg's bonfire of EU laws

MaizieD at least I think financial services have been excluded from the bonfire?

In my youth, I was involved with the Anti Apartheid campaign which was very well organised by Dennis Brutus. I had thought about placards at Westminster but my husband thought not! Pouring gravy over the gravy train?

Feels as if the Blob has firm control of government and there’s no effective voice against it.

I have written to my mp about the problems facing Inland Revenue btw.

stellacreasy

Good grief! Minister just blithely announced that they have verified 3,200 laws will be deleted by this bill - and expects it to be closer to 4,000 in time. No MP can vote for a bill that deletes 800 unknowns and gives ministers powers to decide what happens next!

Unsurprising WWM.
I'm past being surprised now.
What a @#£%! this lot are. 😕

What I think we have overlooked on this forum is that the democratic? will of the people? was to leave the EU and therefore its laws which were enshrined into our legislation.

Since we can’t individually have a debate on 4000 laws, it would seem that by agreeing on the referendum, we have agreed to not abiding by Eu laws.

Or something like that - it’s as clear as mud.

Feels as if the Blob has firm control of government and there’s no effective voice against it.

Any government with a big majority in the House of Commons can do exactly what they please and ignore any opposition. There never is an 'effective' voice against them.

This lot have taken their advantage to the utmost extreme. They are completely doing away with the sovereignty of Parliament and trashing the UK constitution (which does exist). God help us all...

What I think we have overlooked on this forum is that the democratic? will of the people? was to leave the EU and therefore its laws which were enshrined into our legislation.

There is no 'and therefore' about it. Once it's in our legislation it's our law, agreed by our parliament.

When, in the Leave campaign, did anyone ever say that 4,000 pieces of legislation would be done away with at a stroke?

Or that we were going to be ruled by maniacs?

ronib

What I think we have overlooked on this forum is that the democratic? will of the people? was to leave the EU and therefore its laws which were enshrined into our legislation.

Since we can’t individually have a debate on 4000 laws, it would seem that by agreeing on the referendum, we have agreed to not abiding by Eu laws.

Or something like that - it’s as clear as mud.

There’s a good point there.
As long as we keep laws which suit the country and only get rid of some that either stifle business or are just a bit odd ( as apparently some are) then fine.No great rush to do it tho, so no need for bonfires.Many EU laws are good so why not keep them.

I wonder if those who voted for Brexit did so to remove paid holiday entitlement? Sick pay? Parental leave? Rest breaks? A cap on working hours? Some facets of equal pay?

Did anyone vote to give up environmental protection? Haven't we got enough sewage being discharged into our rivers already?

Did anyone vote to give up food protection standards? Do they actually want to see poisons in babyfood?

Did anyone vote to remove the power to legislate from Parliment and give it to Tory Ministers to do whatever they like? Surely having seen how corrupt they have been in recent years, that is the last thing we should do?.

These people were given power in 2019 by a minority of voters, not a majority. This is not any kind of democracy. It is dictatorship.

Sorry, ronib I think, like others, these are OUR laws - many of which we apparently drafted.

The reason we continued with them initially was because that was obviously sensible. You can't suddenly wipe out health and safety laws and employment rights without huge problems.

To cap it all we are letting Tom Dick and Harry ministers have rights over what we do - yhis is absolutely giving away control.
No consultation. No consensus. No debate. No parliamentary oversight.

Why we can't just leave it as it is until we can go through them or something actually needs attention, beats me!

Exactly varian
This is not any kind of democracy. It is dictatorship.

"Because of the speed at which the government wants to proceed with the bill, it will create significant uncertainty for industry, employers, regulators and investors.

EU-derived laws cover myriad areas including data protection, cyber security, consumer rights, intellectual property, tax, public procurement, insolvency, agency workers, working time and equal pay, construction and real estate and commercial agents.

The British Chambers of Commerce has called for the deadline for the review of the laws to be pushed back to 2026 after a survey of members found half of companies said deregulation was either “a low priority, or not a priority at all”. Only 4 per cent said they fully understood the Retained EU Law Bill.

Peter McGettrick, chair of the British Safety Council, the UK health and safety organisation, said the bill was “ill-conceived” and could leave a “legal black hole” in the statute book."

www.ft.com/content/834ca974-440a-4c68-98eb-9fd79733fb3c

Okay everyone I agree we are being ruled by maniacs. I wish that Sunak and Hunt would stop making glossy videos, one stacking coffee cups!! I wish that someone other than a load of Gransnet contributors could show just a little bit that they cared.

Siope

I wonder if those who voted for Brexit did so to remove paid holiday entitlement? Sick pay? Parental leave? Rest breaks? A cap on working hours? Some facets of equal pay?

Siope I didn’t vote for Brexit so can’t help you there, but there was holiday pay and sick pay and rest breaks before we joined the EU.
Since we’ve been in the EU for forty years I think at some point parental leave was granted by firms.

Agree Varian that doing things with speed is pretty stupid, there’s no need.

ronib

Okay everyone I agree we are being ruled by maniacs. I wish that Sunak and Hunt would stop making glossy videos, one stacking coffee cups!! I wish that someone other than a load of Gransnet contributors could show just a little bit that they cared.

There are loads of people on twitter who care very deeply, and lots of groups such as Open Democracy, Best for Britain, Enough is Enough...

And my friends who aren't on Gnet...

Plus, look at the polling. Tories aren't doing very well.

Oreo

Siope

I wonder if those who voted for Brexit did so to remove paid holiday entitlement? Sick pay? Parental leave? Rest breaks? A cap on working hours? Some facets of equal pay?

Siope I didn’t vote for Brexit so can’t help you there, but there was holiday pay and sick pay and rest breaks before we joined the EU.
Since we’ve been in the EU for forty years I think at some point parental leave was granted by firms.

But this Bill aims to do away with all that as it has EU law incorporated in it. You'll be looking at a blank state with no democratic input into formulating the replacements.

The more you think about it, the worse it gets.

No workers will stand for losing holiday pay, sick pay or parental leave tho, firms will still have to offer it in contracts or lose staff hand over fist.
It’s other things that are more worrysome, keeping beaches and rivers clean springs to mind.

There are other areas that will be devastating.

So for example, at the moment if land is grabbed for development that has either scientific interest or valuable habitat for all our wildlife, the EA and other bodies are legally bound to replace this loss with like for like.

So for example, wet land, habitat for otters, “rattie” bio-diversity in all its glory. All that will be gone.

52741 fifty two thousand seven hundred and forty one laws were introduced in Uk as a result of EU legislation
Source Thompson Reuters

Bit baffled… so around 49000 approximately still around? Is it 1st April?

Thompson Reuters March 27, 2017

oreo - I thought Statutory Sick Pay started in 1983?
I could be wrong?

I know ours is very poor compared to the rest of Europe.

ronib

"The British government has voted against EU laws 2% of the time since 1999"

"Official EU voting records* show that the British government has voted ‘No’ to laws passed at EU level on 56 occasions, abstained 70 times, and voted ‘Yes’ 2,466 times since 1999" (^https://fullfact.org/europe/eu-facts-behind-claims-uk-influence/^)

Logically then, we voted no 126 times and yes 2,466 times. Given this, I doubt if more than 2% of the 4,000 laws should go.

*^Sara Hagemann (2016)^ 'Government decision records from the Council of the European Union 1999-2016, dataset v. March 2016’, London School of Economics and Political Science.

Not Spaghetti maybe someone with a legal understanding of what counts as a law could explain Thompson Reuters figures.

If Thompson Reuters is correct, it is clear that we have been misled about getting rid of EU laws in the Uk. Or is it that the Uk government chooses which laws to junk?