UK could align with EU single market rules without parliamentary vote
Ministers are planning to introduce legislation that would allow the UK to sign up to EU single market rules without a full vote in Parliament, as part of a bid to reduce paperwork and boost growth in the UK.
A new bill to be put forward this year as part of the government’s Brexit reset will give ministers sweeping powers to bring the UK into line with EU law in certain areas such as food standards, animal welfare and pesticide use, a process known as dynamic alignment.
The bill will include powers that mean that once a deal is reached with the bloc, other EU changes deemed to be in the national interest can be approved without a formal vote by MPs.
Plans to facilitate “dynamic alignment” with EU rules will be achieved using secondary legislation called “Henry VIII” powers.
The legislation is expected to be announced in the King’s speech on May 13, which sets the agenda for the next parliamentary session. Guard reported over the weekend.
If the bill is passed, Brussels regulations could be adopted on everything from cars to farming using secondary legislation.
Ministers argue the dynamic alignment will have little material impact as UK food producers have largely complied with EU rules since Brexit, but it is hoped it will reduce expensive and time-consuming paperwork for suppliers looking to export to the single market.
But there are also concerns that Britain will surrender control over its own laws.
Sir Keir Starmer has been seeking closer ties with the bloc since taking office in July 2024 as part of a post-Brexit “refresh” and clinched a first deal last May with deals that included giving British tourists greater access to e-gates at European airports.
The UK and the EU aim to complete negotiations on the youth mobility plan by a joint summit later this year.
They also want to secure a common sanitary and phytosanitary area that would apply to the movement of plants and food, and by then agree on a way to link emissions trading systems.
The Prime Minister insisted earlier this month that Labour’s manifesto commitments did not include rejoining the single market or customs union or establishing freedom of movement.
Plans for the new law were the target of criticism from opposition parties.
Andrew Griffith, the Tory shadow business secretary, said: “Reducing parliament to a spectator while Brussels sets the terms is exactly what the country has rejected. “Labour’s mismanagement of the economy has led Starmer to rush to Brussels to distract from his own failures.
“Labour is still fighting the referendum because they fundamentally cannot accept the democratic decision taken by the British people. We must seize the opportunities of Brexit, but Starmer’s weakness on the world stage has made this almost impossible.”
Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat MP Munira Wilson told the BBC: Westminster Time: “We need a closer relationship with Europe, but we also need Parliamentary democracy. I think it’s absurd, wrong and undemocratic to take Parliament out of the loop and not get the right to vote.”
