The 600 laws destined for Britain’s post-Brexit bonfire of Brussels red tape
Rules for genetically modified Japanese carnations, Polish canal boats, broken rice and Fijian seafarers are among the hundreds of laws destined for Britain’s post-Brexit bonfire of Brussels rules and red tape.
Kemi Badenoch has blamed the intransigent Whitehall “blob” for the Government U-turn on its promise to scrap all EU rules still on British law books after Brexit, which is estimated at 4,800 laws.
Instead of repealing or reviewing 2,400 laws in Rishi Sunak’s first 100 days as Prime Minister, as promised, the Business Secretary said on Wednesday she could only scrap about 600 unnecessary rules.
Details of those laws emerged on Thursday after the Government amended its Retained EU Law Bill in the Lords, with many relating to now outdated and irrelevant EU decisions or to policies and projects reserved for bloc members only.
Telegraph analysis of the Bill revealed that about 590 rules and regulations were for the chop after officials judged they could be removed without any damaging consequences.
No fewer than six of the laws relate to decisions allowing the placing of carnations on the EU market and in particular in the Netherlands.
Two of those related to Japanese carnations, which had been genetically modified for flower colour, and date back to November 2016.
Roughly 176 of the laws relate to fish and fishing, which is not surprising as the UK left the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy at Brexit.
Nine alone specifically concern tuna, including the 2014 repeal on a ban on imports to the EU of Atlantic bigeye tuna from Bolivia, Cambodia and Equatorial Guinea.
Dustbin of British legal history
Four of the laws relate to the humble anchovy, including fishing opportunities for the salty snack in the Bay of Biscay for 2012/2013.
The EU’s granting of 910 spots to Venezuelan fishers off the coast of French Guiana in December 2011, will also be consigned to the dustbin of British legal history.
EU recognition of seafaring qualifications from Ghana, Bangladesh and Fiji are also on the way out, as well as a string of old fishing agreements with countries including Mauritania, Guinea Bissau and Norway.
No other non-EU country is mentioned as often in the doomed regulations as Mauritania, which is cited no fewer than seven times in the amended Bill.
EU agreements with the Republic of Congo on forest law enforcement, and outdated trade treaties with Canada, Cuba and Turkmenistan are among the forest of documents slated for annihilation.
There are some estimates that as much as 15 per cent of the laws relate to EU deals with external countries setting standards for specific goods and services.
Temporary exemptions from road haulier driving limits, now expired, and from EU organic food production rules during Covid will also be cleaned up from the statute books.
Rules setting the legal framework for the EU’s Copernicus satellite system, which British companies played a key role in building, will also go because the UK is no longer involved in the project.
Common food products, including cereal, sugar and animal products, are mentioned in 40 of the regulations, with some, such as those for “broken rice” relating to EU import duties, which are no longer relevant for Brexit Britain.
EU green legislation
1995’s EU decision on the tariff classification of pig carcasses has not been spared, and neither have climate rules for Swiss aeroplanes landing in the EU or plans for an EU network of employment agencies.
February 2012’s recognition of the Polish register of shipping as a classification society for inland waterway vessels, better known as canal boats, is also destined for the scrapheap.
So too are exemptions to EU tax law allowing reduced rates of fuel duty on vehicles in the inner and outer Hebrides.
There are 31 mentions of climate change, greenhouse gases and emissions in the amended Bill - or one in 20 of the regulations slated to be excised.
Some of those relate to EU green legislation, which was later replaced or updated over the years, rather than representing a slash and burn of existing UK climate laws.
Others are linked to the EU’s Emissions Trading System, the bloc’s market for trading carbon allowances, which the UK left after Brexit.
Authorisations or the denial of authorisations of certain pesticides also feature heavily, with biocidal products mentioned 23 times in the document.
However, these laws date back to before Brexit, when companies would use UK regulators to give market authorisation for their products for the whole of the EU, rather than a sign of a post-Brexit free-for-all on pesticides.
