The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill (the Bill) is presently being debated in the House of Commons, and is the subject of great controversy. The Bill was first mooted in the Prime Minister's speech to the Conservative Party Conference in October last year, when it was described as the "Great Repeal Bill", a title designed to stir memories of the Great Reform Act of 1832, a landmark of British political history.
The Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 13 July 2017. It has 4 main functions:
Whilst it might seem counterintuitive to mark the UK's exit from the EU by importing the whole of EU law (much of it greatly disliked) into UK domestic law - which is presumably why the name "Great Repeal Bill" was quietly dropped - it is widely acknowledged that there was no real workable alternative; there is simply not enough time to review and amend appropriately every piece of EU legislation before the UK's scheduled departure date (29 March 2019). The Government is seeking wide powers to make changes to the legislation incorporated into UK law by means of secondary legislation, thus avoiding the scrutiny of the full Houses of Parliament, and this is proving controversial.