On 31 January 2022, the Government announced that a ‘Brexit Freedoms’ Bill will be brought forward to end the special status of EU law and ensure that it can be more easily amended or removed.
The announcement follows the Government’s New Year’s Day pledge to maximise the benefits of Brexit in 2022 and marked the two-year anniversary of Brexit.
The Bill will make it easier to amend or remove ‘retained EU law’, as many EU laws were kept on after Brexit terms were agreed upon. Under current rules, reforming and repealing EU law would take several years because of the need for primary legislation for many changes, even if minor and technical.
The Government plans to amend this and the new legislation will ensure that changes can be made more easily. The Bill is also expected to end the special status that EU law still has in our legal framework.
These reforms will cut £1 billion of red tape for UK businesses, ease regulatory burdens and contribute to the Government’s mission to unite and level up the country.
Alongside the announcement, the Government also released a new policy document ‘The Benefits of Brexit: how the UK is taking advantage of leaving the EU’ which set out how the Government is using new freedoms in different sectors to meet the Government’s aim of transforming the UK into the best-regulated economy in the world.