Brexit bill on the brink: Labour, Scots and Welsh gang up to DERAIL the plan amid warnings May will be forced out of her job
- Ministers have published legislation to repeal the European Communities Act
- It will smooth the path to Brexit by transferring EU regulations into British law
- But Labour’s Brexit spokesman warned his party would try to block legislation
- The devolved governments in Scotland and Wales will also seek to veto the Bill
Labour, Nicola Sturgeon and the Welsh government last night threatened to band together to derail the Repeal Bill that ends the EU’s power over Britain.
Ministers yesterday published legislation to repeal the European Communities Act, which enshrines the supremacy of EU law – and the European courts.
It will smooth the path to Brexit by transferring thousands of EU regulations into British law, preventing legal uncertainty.
But Labour’s Brexit spokesman Sir Keir Starmer warned that his party would try to block the legislation when MPs vote in September as it will not bring a controversial human-rights charter into UK law.
![Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon (pictured in Brussels with the EU chief) was due to tell Mr Barnier quitting the single market will be bad for Scotland](http://web.archive.org./web/20240712011405/https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/07/13/23/4247F75100000578-4694740-Scottish_First_Minister_Nicola_Sturgeon_pictured_in_Brussels_wit-m-20_1499984083748.jpg)
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon (pictured in Brussels with the EU chief) was due to tell Mr Barnier quitting the single market will be bad for Scotland
The devolved governments in Scotland and Wales also said they would seek to veto the Bill, demanding more assurances on how powers on environment, agriculture and fisheries would be returned from Brussels to Edinburgh and Cardiff.
And the Lib Dems warned the Government faced a ‘nightmare’ that could cost the PM her job.
But Mrs May said the legislation was essential, and without it the country would not have a working legal system on the day of Brexit, expected to be in March 2019.
Under her plan, all 12,000 EU regulations applying to Britain will be copied and pasted on to the UK statute book.
Ministers will be handed so-called ‘Henry VIII powers’ allowing them to tweak any laws that need vital amendments without an MPs’ vote.
But Scottish First Minister Miss Sturgeon and her Welsh counterpart Carwyn Jones raised the prospect of a constitutional crisis as they threatened to block the Bill, which they branded a ‘naked power grab’.
They claimed that it would not return powers to devolved administrations, adding: ‘It returns them solely to the UK Government and Parliament, and imposes new restrictions on the Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales. On that basis, the Scottish and Welsh governments cannot recommend that legislative consent is given to the Bill as it currently stands.’
Sources confirmed it was likely the Government would need a so-called ‘legislative consent motion’ from Holyrood for the Repeal Bill, though the Scottish Parliament cannot veto Brexit.
![Brexit Secretary David Davis has called on rival politicians to work together to deliver Brexit](http://web.archive.org./web/20240712011405/https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/07/13/09/42219BDC00000578-0-image-a-6_1499933083345.jpg)
Brexit Secretary David Davis has called on rival politicians to work together to deliver Brexit
Meanwhile, Labour said it would vote against the legislation unless it brought the European Charter of Fundamental Rights into UK law.
It has been blamed in a string of controversial human rights cases. The Government said the charter of 50 human rights, which Tony Blair signed up to in 2000, is merely a ‘catalogue of rights that already existed elsewhere in EU law’.
But Sir Keir said the charter’s inclusion was a ‘red line’, adding: ‘Labour are putting the Prime Minister on notice that unless the Bill is significantly improved, Labour will vote it down in the House of Commons.’
The Bill was given its first reading in the Commons yesterday, but it will not be formally debated until autumn.
The Government has insisted that the Henry VIII powers will be limited to correcting minor legal issues. However, with 800 to 1,000 pieces of secondary legislation, known as statutory instruments, likely to be brought forward under the powers during a two-year window, there are likely to be objections from MPs and peers.
Labour MP Wes Streeting has said the powers are ‘undemocratic, unaccountable and simply wrong’. But Brexit Secretary David Davis told the BBC: ‘It is not just a ministerial signature, it is what they call a statutory instrument which … can be debated, can be voted on.’
Downing Street said the suggestion Scotland and Wales may not give legislative consent was ‘very pessimistic’, adding: ‘We want to work with all parties, MPs, devolved administrations, talk to them.’
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