Ministers can get rid of 'ghastly' EU laws, confirms Brexit Secretary

David Davis has confirmed ministers will have the power able to get rid of “ghastly” EU laws after Brexit.

Publishing details of proposed legislation that will transfer the whole of EU law on to the UK statute book as Britain leaves the European Union, the Brexit Secretary said the Great Repeal Bill would provide “clarity and certainty” for businesses and citizens.

MORE: What is the Great Repeal Bill?
MORE: EU laws will still affect British court decisions after Brexit

In a move designed to quell concern over the use of so-called Henry VIII powers to pass up to 1,000 pieces of secondary legislation without close parliamentary scrutiny, Mr Davis said any powers created in this way would be “time limited” and “Parliament will need to be satisfied that the procedures are appropriate”.

He also admitted that EU laws will still affect British court decisions after Brexit.

Mr Davis told MPs: “We have been clear that we want a smooth and orderly exit, and the Great Repeal Bill is integral to that approach.

“It will provide clarity and certainty for businesses, workers and consumers across the United Kingdom on the day we leave the EU.

“It will mean that as we exit the EU and seek a new deep and special partnership with the European Union, we will be doing so from the position where we have the same standards and rules.

“But it will also ensure that we deliver on our promise to end the supremacy of EU law in the UK as we exit.

Responding to a question from Tory MP Christopher Chope as to whether the Bill would allow the Government to abolish “all these ghastly” EU laws and directives, Mr Davis confirmed that they could.

The exchange feeds into wider concerns that the Tory Government will try to dilute protections for workers in particular.

It comes after Mr Davis was forced to defend the Prime Minister against accusations that her Article 50 letter threatened to end Britain’s security co-operation with the EU.

Theresa May is under fire after linking a new trade deal with the European Union to continued security co-operation after Brexit.

In her letter to European Council president Donald Tusk triggering Article 50, the Prime Minister warned failure to reach a comprehensive settlement would lead to a weakening of co-operation in the fight against crime and terrorism.

Downing Street insisted Mrs May’s comments were not intended as a threat to EU negotiators, saying it was a “simple fact” the existing arrangements would lapse if Britain left the EU without a deal.

But opposition MPs accused her of jeopardising public safety by attempting to use security co-operation as a “bargaining chip” in the forthcoming negotiations.

In her letter to Mr Tusk, Mrs May warned: “Europe’s security is more fragile today than at any time since the end of the Cold War.

“Weakening our co-operation for the prosperity and protection of our citizens would be a costly mistake.”

Asked if he thought Mrs May was engaged in “blackmail”, the European Parliament’s co-ordinator for Brexit Guy Verhofstadt said: “I try to be a gentleman, so towards a lady I don’t even use or think about the word ‘blackmail’.”

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman insisted Mrs May’s comments were not intended as a threat.

“It’s a simple fact that if we leave the EU without a deal then the arrangements which we have as part of our EU membership will lapse,” the spokesman said.

Nato co-operation and intelligence-sharing arrangements, which are normally conducted on a country-by-country basis, would not be affected, he added.