Back in December 2022, we posted on the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill which was introduced to the House of Commons on 22 September 2022 by the then Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Jacob Rees-Mogg – see here for our post. Following some delay the Bill has now completed its passage through the House of Lords and returns to the Commons today for consideration of the Lords' amendments. The Lords have made some significant changes to the Bill, as our colleagues in the HSF London Administrative and Public Law team have set out in their recent posts on HS Public Law Notes here, here and here.
Taken together, the changes go some way to tackling some of the serious concerns raised regarding the initial draft of the Bill. In particular, the Lords has replaced the sweeping abolition of all retained EU Law not expressly saved by 31 December 2023 with instead the specific repeal on that date of approximately 600 pieces of legislation set out in a new Schedule to the Bill.
Lawyers have been poring over that Schedule to work out what the impact on their practice areas could be. From a real estate and planning perspective there seems to be little cause for concern. From an environment law perspective, the legislation included in the list seems mainly to be enabling regulations for changes now incorporated elsewhere.
We keenly wait to see how many of the Lords' amendments will make it to Royal Assent. We will continue to monitor the impact on the development industry. For updates on progress of the Bill generally, sign up for notifications from HSF Public Law Notes.
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