Government says it will not bring charter of fundamental rights into UK law, thus failing one of Keir Starmer’s ‘six tests’

The government has set itself on a collision course with opposition parties by insisting that it will not bring the EU charter of fundamental rights into domestic law on Brexit day.



The EU (withdrawal) bill – published on Thursday and known as the “great repeal bill” which will formally enact Brexit – includes a clause that says: “The charter of fundamental rights is not part of domestic law on or after exit day.”

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The shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, has made the incorporation of the charter – which interprets EU human rights – one of the six tests he will apply when Labour decides whether to vote for the bill when it returns to parliament in the autumn. The Liberal Democrats have also made it a key demand.

The government believes the charter, which interprets existing EU rights rather than creating new ones, will no longer be necessary after “exit day”, when Britain leaves the EU. But refusing to incorporate it will set up one of a series of parliamentary struggles as Theresa May tries to get the legislation through parliament.

The Lib Dem leader, Tim Farron, who has said the passage of the bill in the autumn will be “hell” for the government, said: “The charter of fundamental rights is a cornerstone of what makes Britain what we are. I cannot understand what issue the government have with it. Is it the right to life, the ban on torture, protection against slavery, the right to a fair trial, respect for privacy, freedom of thought and religion, free speech and peaceful protest? These are not frustrations, these are integral to what it is to be British.”



The first and most historically significant line of the bill says simply: “The European Communities Act 1972 is repealed on exit day.”

But the legislation also brings EU law into domestic UK law, to create continuity after exit day.

And it contains controversial new powers for ministers to tweak laws and create new institutions, where these are deemed necessary to make EU law work when it is transferred to UK law.

Ministers will be able to use these so-called “Henry VIII powers” for up to two years after exit day, reflecting the government’s fear that it could face a bottleneck of legislation as it battles to make the necessary changes in time.

The ‘great repeal bill’.

The bill sets out the circumstances in which the powers can be used, allowing ministers to use regulations to “make such provision as the minister considers appropriate to prevent, remedy or mitigate” anything that could prevent EU law from operating effectively.

That could include setting up new domestic regulators, or transferring powers to existing domestic bodies, where standards are currently enforced by EU institutions that will no longer have jurisdiction after Brexit.

Some MPs are concerned about the scope of these powers, and are likely to be unsettled by the idea that they will continue to have effect for two years after Brexit.

The bill also makes provision for all of the legislation that applies in the UK to be published by “the Queen’s Printers” at the National Archives after Brexit, so that citizens can refer to it all together, rather than separately referring to EU and British law, as at present.

