27 October 2022

FT: UK’s Rishi Sunak eases off on taking Brexit axe to EU laws

Rishi Sunak, the new British prime minister, has toned down his zeal for the speedy axing of EU legislation, amid warnings that such an exercise could tie up hundreds of civil servants at a time of national crisis.

Sunak promised in August, during his first bid for the Conservative leadership, that he would create a new “Brexit delivery unit”, a pledge illustrated by a video of an official shredding EU laws to the strains of “Ode to Joy”, the European anthem. But Sunak’s aides admitted on Wednesday that the new unit would not be created. “The time for changes in the machinery of government has passed,” said one ally.

The video also stated that: “In his first 100 days as prime minister, Rishi Sunak will review or repeal post-Brexit EU laws. All 2,400 of them.” That target will also not be met, government officials confirmed. Meanwhile Sunak has not named a dedicated “Brexit opportunities minister”, a title handed by Boris Johnson to Jacob Rees-Mogg, who took the title with him when he became business secretary under Liz Truss.

Rees-Mogg was sacked by Sunak and Downing Street said the job of overseeing Brexit opportunities would now be given to another minister in the business department, but it would not be a “standalone” job. Sunak is also said by government officials to be considering whether to press ahead with a 2023 “sunset clause” for EU regulation, which would see all EU law that still exists in the UK revoked or reformed by the end of next year.

Ministers have been warned that hundreds of civil servants would have to be deployed to assess all 2,400 pieces of retained EU law and to decide whether they should be repealed or transferred into UK legislation. Rees-Mogg was warned that his business department alone would need to deploy 400 staff to review or repeal the 300 pieces of EU law for which it was responsible...

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