What this does not amount to – so far – is a bonfire of EU red tape nor anything that in the short run will make much difference to the cost pressures on business or households.
The government plans a range of bills to take forward “Brexit opportunities”
already identified, with planned legislation in areas such as
gene-editing, amending some financial services directives, digital
market regulation and procurement. It is also proposing to amend the
data protection regime the UK inherited from the EU – which could lead
in time to the EU reconsidering whether to continue with the data
adequacy judgement it gave the UK last year. Tear that up, and
cross-border data flows become a whole lot more complicated. There will
also be legislation to allow ministers to revise EU law more easily –
expect a row over the extent of those powers and the lack of
parliamentary scrutiny.
What this does not amount to – so far – is a bonfire of EU red tape nor
anything that in the short run will make much difference to the cost
pressures on business or households. It certainly comes nowhere close to
offsetting the additional red tape Brexit is imposing on any business
which exports to the EU or needs to recruit workers from there. Although
the speech made reference to protecting the integrity of the UK, and
the Good Friday Agreement, we did not see was a firm commitment to
legislate to unilaterally override parts of the Northern Ireland
protocol, despite the rumours. But that does not mean the issue has gone
away, with reports suggesting that there may be a further announcement
from the foreign secretary on a new bill next week.
Jill Rutter
Institute for Government
© Institute for Government
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