Source · Select Committees · Foreign Affairs Committee
Recommendation 80
80
Deferred
It is not clear to us that expecting Departmental Select Committees to fulfil this task...
Conclusion
It is not clear to us that expecting Departmental Select Committees to fulfil this task would be workable, and nor can they provide the House with a cross-cutting overview of how alignment with EU rules, and limitations on the UK’s regulatory autonomy, are developing across different areas of policy. We do not consider that the scrutiny mechanisms that exist in the House of Lords, valuable as they are, can substitute for scrutiny of EU matters, and Ministers’ decisions on alignment, by the democratically elected House of Commons. It is also clear that any scrutiny mechanism for EU matters, however operationalised, will require the Government’s cooperation to be effective. (Conclusion, Paragraph 225)
Government response summary AI-generated
The government intends to consider the matter further and engage with interested parties within the House of Commons, preferring broad agreement before new treaties with the EU requiring dynamic alignment are brought into force.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government · verbatim extract
Deferred
We agree with the House of Lords European Affairs Committee that Parliament must “play a full scrutiny role” when it comes to matters of alignment with the EU. Given the continued impact of the EU decisions on the UK and the much closer relationship being pursued by the Government, we believe that the House of Commons should establish a dedicated new Committee on EU affairs, to consider and scrutinise matters relating to the UK’s closer new relationship with the European Union in the round, including matters pertaining to regulatory alignment.
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