The European Union (future relationship) bill needs to become law before the post-Brexit transition ends tomorrow night
Ursula von der Leyen, the European commission president, and Charles Michel, the president of the European council, have signed the Trade and Cooperation Agreement in Brussels on behalf of the EU. The text will then be flown to London for Boris Johnson to sign later today.
Today, @eucopresident and I signed the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement.
Prime Minister @BorisJohnson will sign it later today in London.
It has been a long road. It’s time now to put Brexit behind us.
Our future is made in Europe. pic.twitter.com/fjybWryJNY
Signing the trade & cooperation agreement on behalf of the #EU with president @vonderleyen
It will now be transferred to the #UK to be signed by PM @BorisJohnson
New chapter, new relationship. pic.twitter.com/eA9kuaYz5t
Good morning. After spending roughly four and a half years arguing about what Britain’s relationship with the European Union should be like following the vote to leave in June 2016, parliamentarians will rush the legislation implementing the trade deal agreed last week through the Commons and the Lords in just one day. This is because the European Union (future relationship) bill needs to become law before the post-Brexit transition ends tomorrow night.
But allowing such little time for parliamentary scrutiny of such an important law has been widely criticised. The Trade and Cooperation Agreement with the EU (pdf) runs to more than 1,200 pages. The bill (pdf) runs to 80 pages. Yet effectively it is just going to be rubber-stamped.
A prominent argument for the UK leaving the European Union was to “take back control” of our laws—for laws to be determined by the UK parliament rather than the EU’s law-making bodies …
It is regrettable that this bill, which determines how the UK’s future relationship with the EU will be implemented in UK law, was published less than 24 hours before parliamentary scrutiny was due to begin. This does not allow parliament much in the way of ‘control’. At the very least, it leaves open the question as to where, or to whom, the control taken back rests.
Related: Johnson to hail ‘historic resolution’ as Brexit bill comes before Commons
