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Independent Watchdog Slams Tory Plans To Repeal EU Derived Workers’ Rights

•Regulatory Policy Committee brands government’s impact assessment for EU Revocation Bill as “not fit for purpose”
•Experts says ministers have not made a “sufficient case” for sunsetting vital workplace protections
•Government must drop “reckless bill” says TUC

During the Brexit campaign in 2016, Unionsafety took the sgtance that leaving the EU& would empower the Tory Government tom privatise the NHS at a fast er Rate, abolish Worker's Rights that The Working Time Directive had provided working people, and a whole range of health & safety legislation along with human rights.

The website was ciriticised by many wthin the Union as a result.

Sadly, the warnings were ignored and scoffed at. Further, the the link between the privatisation of the NHS and leaving the EU was never accepted and now we see the huge cost of drugs, the privatisation impedning abolition of the Human Rights Act along with the leaving of an institution that the UK was key to setting up - the European Court of Justice - after the Second World War.

Now in the latest move of the Tory Governments hatred of worker's rights and anything that may affect the profit levels of businessess, their latest Bill which is dersigned to remove ALL worker's rights, has been slammed by The Regulatary Policy Committee as it described the government’s impact assessment for its flagship Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill as “not fit for purpose”.

The Bill will automatically scrap thousands of EU legislation currently transposed into UK laws – including vital workplace rights such as holiday pay, safe working hours and protection from discrimination.

Not to mention the various Health & Safety At Work legilsatative standards such as the EU Six Pack which includes The Management of Health & Safety At Work law.

These and many other essential protections will disappear from the end of next year – unless Parliament passes new laws to retain them. The measures in the Bill are:

* A sunset clause that will revoke the majority of REUL contained in domestic secondary legislation and retained direct EU legislation on 31 December 2023.

This will be accompanied by a power to preserve REUL to allow the government to keep pieces of legislation deemed necessary (for example to fulfil international obligations or commitments). The sunset will also be accompanied by a power to extend. This will allow the government to extend the sunset date for specified pieces of legislation to a date no later than 23 June 2026.

* Powers to update, restate, repeal, revoke or replace REUL. These repeal and replacement powers would be broadly deregulatory in ambition.

* Downgrade the status of retained direct EU legislation (RDEUL) for the purpose of amendment.

* End the supremacy of EU law on 31 December 2023.

* Create new tests for domestic higher courts to apply when considering departure from retained case law. Those tests are designed to facilitate easier departure.

* Give lower courts the power to seek rulings from higher courts on whether to depart from retained case law, by referring points of law to the higher courts, which must then be followed by the lower courts in the proceedings before it.

* Give UK Government and Devolved Administration(DA) law officers the power to seek a ruling from higher courts on a point of law arising on retained case law once proceedings have concluded in the lower courts (as a means of establishing a precedent for future cases).

* Notify UK Government and DA law officers where a higher court is considering an argument that it should depart from retained case law, and allow the law officers to become a party to proceedings.

The Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC) - a group of independent experts brought together by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to examine the impact of regulation on business and civil society - said the government has not made a “sufficient case” for sunsetting workers’, environmental and consumer rights.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:

“The Conservatives have set off a ticking time bomb under hard-won workers’ rights.

This reckless Bill is puts at risk vital workplace protections – like holiday pay, safe working hours and protection from discrimination. It has been being rushed through with no consultation and no real thought for the impacts on working people and employers. This damning assessment from the government’s own experts must force ministers to rethink.

They do not have mandate to slash and burn people’s rights at work. They must ditch this toxic Bill now”

TUC polling published last month revealed that seven in ten (71%) of voters support retaining EU-derived workers’ rights like holiday pay, safe limits on working times and rest breaks.

The details of the RPC verdict on the Bill shows they have more understanding of the issues than the Tory ministers have. which is based upon hatred of all-things to do with worker's rights and fundamental human rights!:

'This opinion covers the impact assessment (IA) for the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill. The RPC received the Impact Assessment a week after the Bill was introduced to Parliament. We shortened our process to publish our opinion as soon as possible, to assist parliamentary scrutiny.

The IA is not fit for purpose (red-rated); the quality of different analytical areas in the IA are all either weak or very weak, meaning that they provide inadequate support for decision-making. The IA was also red-rated on its assessment of the impacts on small and micro businesses.

The Bill proposes sunsetting more than 2,400 pieces of retained EU legislation (REUL) on 31 December 2023, unless, before then, a departmental review proposes retention of, or changes to, the legislation, or delays the sunset until 2026. No impacts for changes to individual pieces of REUL have been assessed at this stage. We asked the Department to commit to assessing the impact of changed and sunsetted legislation, for RPC scrutiny in the future, but the Department has not made a firm commitment to do so. Our opinion also highlights further areas for improvement in the IA.

As the independent Better Regulation watchdog, it is our view that those affected by regulatory change should reasonably expect the Government to properly consider the impacts of such changes. We are not assured that the impact of changing or sunsetting each piece of REUL will be calculated or understood under proposals currently in place - particularly where no related secondary legislation is required.'

The RPC’s verdict on the Bill can be downloaded and read by clicking on the image above right.

Source: TUC / RPC

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