As we expect the Prime Minister to bring back his Withdrawal Agreement Bill to the House of Commons we urge him to address concerns we have.
Firstly, we call on the Prime Minister to give the Withdrawal Agreement Bill a full and proper legislative timetable. This is a piece of legislation that will have significant constitutional, political and legal implications for the UK. In its current form, it is also a piece of legislation that does little to protect rights and nothing to protect the environment. In fact, the Bill hands exceptionally wide powers to Ministers, which could potentially be used to make changes to citizens’ rights, environmental protection, workers’ rights, the Good Friday Agreement and a number of other areas.
The sovereignty of Parliament was a central theme in the 2016 referendum and a promise was made that Parliament would ‘take back control of our own laws’. Yet, the Withdrawal Agreement Bill- with at least 19 Henry VIII powers within it- shows that control of lawmaking will largely not rest with Parliament. Instead, the Executive has been given unprecedented powers to implement the Withdrawal Agreement without proper parliamentary scrutiny.
It is therefore crucial that sufficient time is given to scrutinise the implications of this Bill. Back in March, the Brexit Civil Society Alliance called on the Government to ensure proper scrutiny of the Withdrawal Agreement Bill. In their response, the government said they remained “committed to ensuring that Parliament has as much time as possible to scrutinise the legislation”. If the new Government ram through a Bill of such constitutional importance they are clearly reneging on this promise and leaving out our voices in the process.
The extensive use of secondary legislation, currently being used beyond its remit of minor adjustments, should be curtailed. Despite the Government’s numerous promises not to use delegated powers for substantive policy changes, we have already seen how they have been used for this purpose and how little scrutiny these changes have received. A clear example of this is the statutory instrument that has been laid which removes the equal treatment provision that provides for EU citizens to be treated in the same way as British citizens when accessing social security schemes. The Government should make policy changes through primary legislation rather than pushing changes through secondary legislation to avoid more comprehensive scrutiny.
We would also like to reiterate the concerns 100 civil society organisations expressed to the Prime Minister in August about the possibility of leaving the EU without a deal. These concerns include but are not limited to, the impacts a no-deal would have on our fundamental rights, the Good Friday Agreement and environmental protections. Coupled with continued uncertainty, these impacts remains highly problematic were the UK to leave the EU without a deal either in January or at the end of the transition period in 2020.
Finally, we have repeatedly called on the government to involve civil society in the Brexit process and once again we urge the Prime Minister to engage with civil society across the four nations of the UK. It is important that organisations across the UK are heard both through the process of withdrawal and when it comes to negotiations on the future relationship with the EU. What comes next will decide the basis for UK’s future and we deserve to have a voice in the process.