Observations

The news of Lord Frost’s reviews of REUL is terrific news – it is yet another advance of delivering the Brexit bonus by leaving the EU behind and making decisions for ourselves in our own interests.

The problem is, however, that too many civil servants appear to have their own agendas which would result in shadowing EU law closely – to maintain close alignment with the single market – so it will be easier for the UK to rejoin some day in the future.

Throwing a proverbial spanner into the works, questioning every change no matter how small, means even current achievements such as the Free Trade Agreements with Australia and New Zealand have still to await ratification before we can see the benefits – a process that is taking an age and is not expected to be completed for another year.

We also need to remember that it was our own British civil service that infamously took EU laws and then ‘gold plated’ many of them, making them even more invasive, technocratic, costly and unbending – but cunningly passing the blame on to faceless Brussels bureaucrats. Many of our politicians were part of this process too, such as the then Health Minister Anna Soubry providing a majority vote for an EU-wide ban on menthol cigarettes when it was not even Conservative government policy.

'Gold plating' EU laws has ended, but....

The practice of ‘gold plating’ has come to an end, as we should be solely responsible for our own laws – but we can expect many civil servants to still defend these past laws as if they were always our own.

Of course regulations can be necessary, that is not disputed, but if we had not deregulated in the 1980s many of the liberal reforms that allowed innovation and creativity in our economy would never have seen the light of day. One obvious example of how deregulation can be beneficial is being able to walk into an opticians today and have a choice of spectacles rather than the limited ration of NHS designs that took an eternity to arrive.

If Brexit means anything then it must mean the ability to diverge from laws designed for 27 other countries (and as often than not, just Germany and/or France) that were imposed on the UK because we lost a majority vote. We need laws and regulations that are fit for today’s Global Britain, not for the lowest European common denominator.

One way Lord Frost can institute the review is to ask that every one of the 72 times the UK lost a vote on a legal imposition at the Council of Ministers is revisited. If the EU proposals were not right for the UK when first proposed there is a very strong likelihood they are not needed now either.

One such example is the EU’s Water Directive, designed to ensure water provision and quality in southern European countries but which was imposed on water abundant Britain. It placed huge costs on British businesses such as the Scotch whisky industry which drew their water supplies from individual streams and burns to ensure a distinct character.

So, how can you help?

To ensure that the REUL is not lost to the Whitehall Blob, Facts4EU.Org is inviting all readers and all Brexit campaign groups to set out a case for the abolition or amendment of particular laws that originated from the EU. You can send them to us here. Already key Brexit-supporting groups including Global Britain, Brexit-Watch and ThinkScotland have agreed to ask their supporters and feed in the answers to Facts4EU.Org – let’s make this widespread. Our team at Facts4EU will then pull the submissions together and present them to Lord Frost so he and his ministers can prioritise what can bring the most beneficial results the soonest.

This is not a single battle. This will be a campaign lasting years, no doubt with remainers seeking to reverse our proposals at every turn. But we shall triumph. The British people did not vote to leave the EU only for us to keep everything the same. We need to think about which laws are required in the British national interest and which are not, with us abandoning those that are no longer fit for purpose.

We therefore urge you to get your thinking caps on, consider which laws and regulations you are aware of that have done damage to your business, your community, your livelihood or your family, and let us know. We shall then start writing some reports about them and publish a compendium of what divergence must look like in all its glory.

The Facts4EU team.

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