A new Bill, officially called the Retained EU Law (REUL) Bill, would give Ministers sweeping powers to remove or replace over 4,000 laws in the future, without public consultation or scrutiny by Parliament. If these protections are lost, it would lead to even more pollution poisoning rivers, more wild places at risk of being damaged – and potentially destroyed – and more wildlife threatened with extinction.
Along with others across industry, business, unions and charities, we believe this bill will endanger rights and regulations we depend upon
Campaign update: 15 May 2023
The UK Government had been forging forward with a ‘sunset clause’ on the Retained EU Law Bill that would bulldoze hundreds of important laws that protect nature and people at the end of the year (2023).
On the 15 May 2023, UK Government announced that it had scrapped the ‘sunset clause’, which means many vital environmental laws will remain in place in 2024. Your passionate postcards, emails and tweets to MPs raised the alarm.
Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, says:
“We won’t be congratulating UK Government for its decision to stop doing something it should never have even thought about in the first place. The UK Government’s Retained EU Law bill has been a shambles from the very beginning. Now it has ditched the ‘sunset clause’, which threatened to dismantle most Retained EU Law at the end of this year and posed an immediate threat to vital laws that protect nature and people. However, the huge problem posed by the bill still remains because it will allow future governments to revoke important laws at whim, whenever they want to.
“Ministers should never be given carte blanche to pick and choose which laws should be kept or binned without public consultation or scrutiny – that is fundamentally undemocratic. The uncertainty created by UK Government over Retained EU Law has caused huge problems for business, as well as organisations working to protect nature. Ministers must stop seeing environmental law as a burden because it helps stop more sewage entering our rives and ensures food is safe to eat. Given the urgent need to address the nature and climate crisis, they should be strengthening protections, not ripping them apart.”
Campaign update: 25 May 2023
A crucial vote is took place on Wednesday 24 May that could have serious ramifications for nature. Thousands of Wildlife Trust supporters acted fast to convince MPs to vote for amendments to the Bill in order to ensure Parliament isn't left out of key decisions in future and that the laws that protect nature are not weakened.
Disappointingly, despite almost 10,000 of you contacting MPs, the UK Government and Conservative MPs voted down this amendment.
Campaign update: 3 July 2023
Unfortunately, the REUL Bill has become law and we remain concerned that future governments could weaken the laws that safeguard nature, water and food standards.
Thank you
We can look back on our incredible campaign with thanks and gratitude to the thousands of you who wrote or sent a postcard to your MPs and convinced the UK government to scrap the 'sunset clause' deadline.
We’ll never stop campaigning for a wilder future. Our Defend Nature page will stay active, so that you can continue to write to your MPs, and speak up for nature.