Retained EU Law Bill 'Not fit for purpose'

As someone who has worked in and with telecommunications sector regulators including Ofcom in the UK and those in several other countries for more than 20 years, I have come to understand the impact on business of an uncertain regulatory environment. When future regulation is unknown, and potentially divergent from regulation in core markets, it increases business risk. When business risk increases, investment decisions are at best delayed.
We have a government that says it is keen generate growth. The Retained EU Law Bill will increase business risk leading to lost investment and reduced growth. Inevitably this will reduce our future income and wealth.

The Retained EU Law Bill, which is before Parliament now, will automatically strip much EU derived law from the British statute book by the end of 2023. The Bill will scrap more than the 3,800 pieces of legislation all of which will need to be reviewed or face repeal in just over one year's time. That is about ten pieces of legislation per day every day, including Saturdays and Sundays to be reviewed.

For such work to be under-resourced or rushed would lead to mistakes and unintended consequences. The Government's own Regulatory and Policy Committee has described the impact assessment for the Bill, signed by ministers, as not fit for purpose. The Committee's report accused ministers of making policy in the dark, of not having calculated or understood the impact of the proposals in the Bill.

But companies cannot act in their sector until they know what the law and regulation is going to be.

I call upon LibDems to stand behind The Institute of Directors, the Trades Union Congress, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and others who have written to Grant Shapps, Business Secretary to drop the Bill's plans to automatically strip the EU derived law from the statute book.
You can contact Grant Shapps here: shappsg@parliament.uk