UNITED KINGDOM

The Great Repeal Bill will mean the UK is no longer bound by the European Court of Justice

Following the triggering of Article 50 by Theresa May, another Brexit battle is looming in the form of the government’s Great Repeal Bill. This will involve converting all EU legislation into UK law and will be proposed in a white paper.

Research, however, has shown as many as 52,741 separate relevant pieces have been passed since 1990.

The huge scale of unravelling the legal mountain – including more than 6,700 new laws applying in the UK since 2010 alone – has prompted warnings that any “bonfire of these regulations” will be a tortuous and complex process.

The Great Repeal Bill is not appropriately named and really should be titled the great repatriation bill, because, initially at least, the legislation will repeal very little.

The bill’s initial purpose is to place the entire body of existing EU law on to the UK statute books, giving parliament the power to amend and repeal them in the future, once the UK formally leaves the EU.

The bill will be introduced in the next Queen’s Speech, and will then have to pass through parliament for ratification. The plan is for it to be passed ahead of the UK’s exit from the EU but to become law only on the date of departure.

The devolved administrations in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales could yet scupper the timetable. The government has suggested their consent will be required, as the bill will have implications in areas for which they are responsible.

Scotland’s Brexit minister has warned that Holyrood could take action if its interests are not represented in the negotiations.

The UK government says this could have “very significant consequences”, leaving “a hole in our law”.

A minimum of seven new bills will need to pass through parliament in order to deliver Brexit, although the final number could be as high as 15, according to the Institute for Government. That will leave “precious little space” for other business, the institute’s director of research has said.

To give a sense of the task at hand, about 20 new pieces of government legislation are normally unveiled during the Queen’s speech.