Defend Nature – government U-turn a step in the right direction?

By Henri Brocklebank, Director of Conservation

Yesterday (10 May) the government announced they would no longer be scrapping all EU laws by the end of 2023.

The controversial Retained EU Law (REUL) Bill has now been amended to remove the ‘sunset clause’ which would have automatically binned all EU law that hadn’t been specifically saved before the end-of-year deadline.

This is good news, since hundreds of vital environmental protections and regulations were at risk – as well as thousands of other laws protecting public health and wellbeing. We have been urging the government to rethink its approach since the REUL Bill was first tabled and would like to thank everyone who supported our Defend Nature campaign and contacted their MP to amplify these concerns and demonstrate their support for wildlife. We certainly haven’t been alone in voicing our views and the REUL Bill has been widely criticised by trade unions, legal groups, civil society groups and academics as well as the environmental sector. It’s not clear whether the government is finally listening to us or has simply realised it’s impossible to meet its own deadline, given the sheer volume of EU law that must be reviewed. Either way, the REUL Bill remains a major threat.

In place of the sunset clause, the government has listed 600 EU laws they intend to get rid of by the end of 2023, and we will now be taking a closer look at this list to see exactly what will be lost.

In addition, the REUL Bill even in its amended form would still allow the government to remove or weaken environmental protections at whim in the future, without consultation or scrutiny. If the government continues to view environmental law as a burden, the REUL Bill remains a major threat to nature’s recovery and so our Defend Nature campaign will continue.

The REUL Bill is currently passing through the House of Lords, where peers have already echoed our concerns and overwhelmingly supported exempting environmental protections. The next phase of the process is the Lords Report Stage, which is due to begin on 15 May.