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Brexit Freedoms Bill to be brought forward
04 February 2022

The Brexit Freedoms Bill will be brought forward to “cut red tape” and improve trading conditions for British businesses, it has been announced.

The new laws will make it easier to amend or repeal outdated “retained EU law” to support international growth.

Here’s everything we know about the Bill so far.

What is the Brexit Freedoms Bill?

Despite leaving the European Union (EU) in January last year, thousands of EU rules and regulations were retained to maintain the continuity of international trade – even if those rules are detrimental to British businesses.

The new Brexit Freedoms Bill aims to repeal, amend, or replace those laws so that they reflect the UK’s own priorities and objectives.

How will this impact British businesses?

According to research, the reforms could cut around £1 billion of red tape for UK businesses by easing the regulatory burden.

The impact will be far-reaching, from how farmers are funded to how data is shared, and public procurement contracts will be awarded.

The Bill is also expected to end the special status that EU law still has in our legal framework. Under current regulations, EU laws made before 1 January 2020 continue to have precedence in our system.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), meanwhile, is set to be replaced with a more proportionate and less burdensome data rights regime to accelerate the growth of the tech, digital and AI sectors.

It has also been suggested that the reforms will enable the Government to establish a new domestic subsidy control regime, which will simplify unnecessary reporting burdens for small and medium-sized businesses.

Plans to “unleash” the benefits of Brexit

Commenting on the announcement, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “The plans we have set out today will further unleash the benefits of Brexit and ensure that businesses can spend more of their money investing, innovating and creating jobs.”

The Attorney General, Suella Braverman, added: “Setting up a mechanism to deal with these legacy EU rules is essential. It underpins our ability to grasp important opportunities provided by Brexit. It means we can move away from outdated EU laws that were the result of unsatisfactory compromises within the EU, some of which the UK voted and lobbied against – but was required to adopt without question.”

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