6th Report - Brexit legislation: constitutional issues

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government "recognises the Committee's concerns around the use of delegated powers" but largely states that scrutiny levels are "ultimately for Parliament" to determine, and does not commit to the committee's specific recommendations on constraining such powers.

• On the sifting mechanism, the government "notes the Committee's concern" but says the 2020 Act powers are "limited to implementing the relevant articles of the Withdrawal Agreement", so it was "deemed appropriate" to specify the procedure on the face of the Bill.
• On illustrative examples in drafting, the government's view is that this device "may be appropriate and helpful in some contexts", for example to enable better Parliamentary scrutiny.
• On explanatory materials, it is "committed to supporting and facilitating Parliamentary scrutiny" and will provide regulatory impact assessments "where necessary" on key policy changes using the new powers in the Agriculture and Fisheries Bills.
• On which courts may depart from retained EU case law, it launched a six week consultation on 2 July 2020, and says any resulting regulations will be made by draft affirmative statutory instrument, laid "in a timely manner" before the end of the Transition Period.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error