Brexit: Government will publish Repeal Bill

The UK government plans to publish a so-called ‘Great Repeal Bill’, which will convert EU law into UK law to ensure smooth legal continuity the day after Brexit. 

The debates on the Bill are not expected to happen before September 2017, however the Bill will in any event need to be passed well before the UK leaves the EU - which is expected to happen during March 2019. The Bill will have to pass through both Houses of Parliament and will come to effect only when the UK actually leaves the European Union. This is going to be the biggest and most significant legislative project ever undertaken in the UK and both Houses of Parliament will be active participants in the process.

The new Bill will repeal the 1972 European Communities Act, which took Britain into EU, remove the supremacy of Brussel’s laws, and end the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.

Most existing EU regulations will be adopted into domestic UK law by the Bill. This way Parliament will have the power to amend, improve or repeal the laws where necessary.

The UK government also announced that it plans to withdraw from the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights, meaning that the EU's human rights laws will not be converted into UK law.

Quite a few key matters will not be in the Bill, but will be debated and enshrined into UK domestic law separately, e.g.: the safeguarding of nuclear materials, the cross-recognition of judicial and administrative proceedings and diplomatic privileges and immunities.