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The Scottish and Welsh governments are threatening to block Britain's repeal bill — designed to convert all existing European Union laws into UK law as part of the Brexit process.
Key points:
- Repeal Bill plans to cut and paste around 12,000 EU laws into British law
- UK Government would then be allowed to change or abolish those laws as it sees fit
- Scottish Prime Minister has labelled it a power grab
Details have only just been released, but it is already facing opposition not only from the devolved parliaments, but from Labour and other parties as well.
The published repeal bill — officially known as the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill — will annul the 1972 European Communities Act (ECA), which gave EU laws instant effect in the UK.
It aims to transfer up to 12,000 EU regulations and cut and paste them into UK law on the first day after Brexit.
The reason it needs to do this is because when the UK exits the EU, many of its laws will no longer work — for reasons such as they refer to EU institutions.
The bill would also give the UK Government the power to change or abolish — "correct the statute book where necessary" — those laws as it sees fit and without full parliamentary scrutiny.
EU law covers a number of areas, such as environmental regulation, workers' rights and the regulation of financial services.
Without the bill, after Brexit those rules and regulations would have no legal standing in the UK, leaving a legal black hole in Britain.
Brexit minister Steve Baker said it would come into place after the UK leaves the EU.
"We believe that to deliver a smooth and orderly exit from the EU, we need to ensure people face the same laws and rules and regulations on the day after we leave as they did the day before," he said.
"So there's no step change, people can be confident that the law will continue to operate — but Parliament crucially will have control."
But Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon called the bill a "naked power grab".
It remains unclear whether the Scottish parliament will be able to veto it, but the threats have already begun.
"As the bill stands now I couldn't in good conscience recommend to the Scottish Parliament that it gives legislative consent to this bill," Ms Sturgeon said.
"This bill takes powers away from the Scottish parliament and undermines the very foundation of the devolution set that parliament is built on."
Both the Scottish parliament and the Welsh Assembly expressed concern that Brexit would lead to the UK Government taking control of areas such as fishing and agriculture, which are currently devolved.
"[The bill] does not return powers from the EU to the devolved administrations, as promised," SNP and Welsh Labour leaders said.
"It returns them solely to the UK government and parliament, and imposes new restrictions on the Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales."
Prepare for months of parliamentary hell: Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats have warned Ms May that she will face months of parliamentary hell as she tries to push the bill through.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he would be one of those making life difficult for the embattled Prime Minister.
"We will make sure there is full parliamentary scrutiny, that has to be key to it," he said.
"We have a parliament where the government doesn't have a majority, we have a country that has voted in two ways on leave and remain."
UK 'embarking on a risky journey'
Lord Kerslake, who was the head of the civil service between 2012 and 2014, said the passage of the repeal bill would be a risky and arduous process.
"We're embarking on this quite risky journey without really being clear abut the destination," he said.
"There are fundamental differences between the parties and within the parties.
"And indeed, as Amyas Morse has pointed out within the government on key issues, normally you'd sort those out before the bill came into parliament.
"But the time scales are so tight that the two things are going to have run together."
Ms May will not only have to negotiate with 27 European countries to leave the EU, she will also have to negotiate a complex bill through a hostile parliament to provide a set of laws her country can govern with post-Brexit.
Topics: world-politics, government-and-politics, foreign-affairs, united-kingdom, scotland