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Good Morning. After spending roughly four and a half years arguing over what Britain’s relationship with the European Union should look like after the vote to leave in June 2016, MPs will accelerate 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 must become law before the post-Brexit transition ends tomorrow night.
But allowing so little time for parliamentary scrutiny of such an important law has been widely criticized. The Trade and Cooperation Agreement with the EU (pdf) has more than 1,200 pages. The bill (pdf) is 80 pages long. However, effectively, it will only have a rubber stamp.
In a report, the Commons Brexit commission has described this schedule as “inevitable but worrying.” The Lords constitution committee has said that this is not what the people were promised in the referendum. In his report (pdf) he says:
A prominent argument for the UK to leave the European Union was to “regain control” of our laws, so that the laws were determined by the UK parliament rather than the EU legislative bodies …
It is regrettable that this bill, which determines how the UK’s future relationship with the EU will be implemented in British law, was published less than 24 hours before parliamentary scrutiny began. This does not allow the parliament to have much “control”. At the very least, it leaves open the question of where, or to whom, regained control rests.
The Hansard Society, the leading think tank covering parliamentary procedure, is even more forceful. She has posted a blog by her lead researcher, Brigid Fowler, describing the process as “a sham.”
Boris Johnson will open the Commons debate and in his speech, according to excerpts published overnight by Issue 10, will state that the agreement will mark “a resolution of the old and controversial question of Britain’s political relations with Europe, which haunted our publication -history of the war ”. Our preview story is here.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30 am: Parliamentarians begin the one-day scrutiny of the European Union bill (future relationship). They will start with a motion allowing MPs to participate virtually in debate, and then a business motion setting a timetable, before Boris Johnson opens second reading debate. The second reading, and all remaining stages, must conclude at 2.30 pm.
10.30 am: Members of the Senedd (the Welsh parliament) debate a critical motion from the Welsh government related to the European Union bill (future relationship).
12:00 h: Members of the Northern Ireland assembly debate a neutral motion related to the European Union bill (future relationship).
1.30 pm: MSPs debate a critical Scottish government motion related to the European Union bill (future relationship).
After 2:30 pm: Matt Hancock, the health secretary, makes a statement to MPs about the coronavirus. This will be followed by a debate on the latest coronavirus restrictions.
After 2:30 pm: Peers debate the European Union bill (future relationship). More than 140 colleagues are on the list to speak, and it is expected that they will not finish debating the bill until around midnight. Once you have cleared both chambers, actual consent will be given very shortly after.
This morning I will focus mainly on Brexit. We will cover the news about the coronavirus on our live blog about the global coronavirus. Is here.
I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, put “Andrew” somewhere and you’re more likely to find it. I try to answer questions and if they are of general interest I will post the question and answer above the line (ATL), although I cannot promise to do this for everyone.
If you want to get my attention quickly, it’s probably best to use Twitter. I’m in @ AndrewGorrión.
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