UK government target to replace all EU laws by the end of 2023

During his leadership campaign this summer, Rishi Sunak made a commitment to review or repeal EU regulations within his first 100 days in power.

After the UK leaves the EU in 2020, the Retained EU Law (REUL) Bill was launched by Liz Truss and Jacob Rees-Mogg with the goal of eliminating all EU law from the UK by the end of 2023.

Less than 600 laws, as opposed to the almost 4,000 promised, would be annulled under the bill by the end of the year, according to Kemi Badenoch, the secretary for commerce and trade.

By automatically repealing the laws by the end of 2023, she recognized that there are “risks of legal uncertainty”.

According to Ms. Badenoch, it’s “about more than a race to a deadline” and the government will preserve the current laws it has in place while searching for those it can do rid of without causing issues rather than hunting for laws that need to be saved.

She told parliament in a written statement: “Over the past year, Whitehall departments have been working hard to identify retained EU law to preserve, reform or revoke.

“However, with the growing volume of REUL being identified, and the risks of legal uncertainty posed by sunsetting instruments made under EU law, it has become clear that the programme was becoming more about reducing legal risk by preserving EU laws than prioritising meaningful reform.

“That is why today I am proposing a new approach: one that will ensure ministers and officials can focus more on reforming REUL, and doing that faster.”