Sep 6th, 2017
Delegated Powers
By Moon Saker
Theresa May wants new powers after Brexit, to change UK laws behind closed doors, without proper votes in parliament. Tomorrow her plan gets debated by MPs for the first time.
If Theresa May gets her way, it’d mean swapping murky backroom deals in Brussels for more of the same in Westminster. That’s why 230,000 people have already signed the petition to demand all new post-Brexit laws get proper votes and proper debates.
Please can you help get the petition past a quarter of a million signatures before the debate kicks off? This will send a powerful message to Theresa May: we won’t let you bypass democracy. It could push her to ditch the plans altogether.
Will you sign the petition right now? It takes less than 30 seconds:
The laws which will need changing after Brexit affect all of us: they cover everything from how much paid holiday we’re entitled to, to food and medicine safety standards, to the ban on bee-killing pesticides. Imagine waking up one morning to the news that your holiday pay has been cut, without even a proper debate in parliament.
Around half of 38 Degrees members voted Leave. The other half voted Remain. Since the referendum we’ve come together to speak up for a Brexit that works for everyone. One of the best ways to do that is to make sure these new laws get voted on in Parliament – because then we can push our MPs to represent what we want from Brexit. If the law can be changed without proper debate, it’s much easier to shut the public out.
We’ve got 24 hours to send a clear message that we don’t want important laws changed without proper debate and votes in parliament.
Here’s some more info:
When we Brexit, the government will need to rewrite lots of rules which previously came from Brussels. First, they’ll take all existing EU laws and put them into UK law. Then they’ll go back and change these rules one by one.
This is a necessary process. But it needs to be done properly. The government is suggesting that it would be too time-consuming for MPs to look properly at all the changes. So instead the Repeal Bill could give them the power to change lots of laws in the future without fresh votes. This is known as delegated powers. The most extreme version of this power is known as a “Henry VIII” clause, after the Tudor king who tried to rule by decree instead of going through parliament.
These powers are controversial. A House of Lords Committee has said: ‘Parliament should ensure that the delegated powers granted under the ‘Great Repeal Bill’ are as limited as possible.’
If you’d like, you can see the full report from the House of Lords Committee here:https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201617/ldselect/ldconst/123/123.pdf
