The Great Repeal Bill ~ Constitution Committee Report

It was at the Conservative Party Conference 2016 that the idea first appeared of a "Great Repeal Bill" to take the UK out of the EU.  Some of the early reaction to the idea was noted in this previous post.  An obvious concern about such a Bill is that it is likely to hand enormous powers to Ministers to make secondary legislation as they seek, item by item, to remove from domestic law the influence of the EU.  Regrettably, Parliamentary control over the enactment of such legislation is not always as rigorous as it might be.

The House of Lords Constitution Committee has issued this report on the proposed Great Repeal Bill - Great Repeal Bill should not be used to avoid parliamentary scrutiny

The Constitution Committee proposes new measures to safeguard the rights of Parliament as the process of Brexit gets underway. The Committee's report argues that Parliament should make sure the Government does not use delegated powers in the forthcoming ‘Great Repeal Bill’ as a way of changing the law in areas currently governed by the EU, without proper parliamentary scrutiny.

• Report: The 'Great Repeal Bill' and delegated powers (HTML)
• Report: The 'Great Repeal Bill' and delegated powers (PDF)
• Select Committee on the Constitution

The recommendations are summarised here.