Thank you for contacting me about the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill.

This Bill will allow Ministers to amend or repeal all legislation carried over from the UK’s membership of the European Union. This is thought to consist of over 2,400 pieces of law – with nearly no parliamentary scrutiny. Covering everything from compensation for delayed trains or flights, the right to paid annual leave, equal pay and bank holidays, rules governing the use of cancer-causing chemicals in cosmetics, requirements for parental leave and pay, and pension protection when a company goes bust.

I voted against this carless legislation this week and will continue to fight for improved rights and standards for my constituents.

Specifically I support Amendment 36 to the Bill. I was very pleased to support this amendment and my Labour colleagues tried to push through a similar one during the Committee Stage. It is completely unacceptable that the Government wants the power to potentially allow thousands of pieces of legislation to be removed from our statute book at the end of this year and we have no idea the exact list of legislation it would apply to.

If the Government does not pass a replacement to any piece of legislation before the end of next year, it would expire or the sunset date would be extended until 2026. Their reckless approach has crashed our economy and now they want to apply that same recklessness to our laws.

The government’s independent regulation watchdog, the regulatory policy committee (RPC), has looked at the impact assessment for the plans and described it as “not fit for purpose”.

I am incredibly concerned that this puts at risk hard-fought rights and protections for British workers, consumers and the environment while diminishing democratic scrutiny and accountability in key areas of British law. As you’ve highlighted, we derive a significant number of our protections in employment law from the European Union.

In my view the Bill will cause enormous levels of uncertainty as we would have no idea what our laws will consist of in 12 months’ time. I share your concern that the Government is seeking to use this Bill to embark on a process of mass deregulation. The laws at risk are not cumbersome red tape but rights and protections British people rightly expect.

We need to establish the future status of laws carried over from our time in the European Union, but I fundamentally disagree with the Government’s approach to doing this, seeking to give itself the power to sweep away key areas of law, of great importance to people across the country, with no scrutiny, no say and no certainty over their replacements.

Instead, the Government should bring forward a positive set of proposals about where the law needs to change or whether something can be done better, and allow MPs the time and power to scrutinise those proposals on behalf of our constituents.

The Government has paid lip service to protecting workers rights but in the next breath they threaten to bring in legislation to make it illegal for transport or emergency workers to strike; we all know who’s side they are on and why they have pursued the form of Brexit they have.

I and my Labour colleagues, alongside the rest of the labour movement will fight any attempt to weaken our hard-won rights every step of the way.