James Grace explores the number and nature of EU rules on the UK statute book
This week we were treated to the unedifying spectacle of Conservative leadership contender Rishi Sunak using all of his theatrical powers to simulate the shredding of EU laws retained on the UK statute book – a cringing representation of what he promises to do, if he wins power.
But, here’s the thing: David Cameron spent £5 million looking for EU laws to ditch between 2012 and 2014 – the ‘Balance of Competences Review’ – and found nothing. Unsurprisingly, given the level of anti-EU hysteria on the Tory benches, the Government quietly buried the report.
For my part, in 2019 I listed on Twitter the EU rules that we voted against – the pieces of legislation that were supposedly imposed on us by our draconian overlords in Brussels. Below is an edited version of what I discovered back then.
In 2015, the House of Commons library looked at how many UK laws had been influenced by the EU over the previous 12 years. Answer: 4,514 out of 34,105.
And, out of the 4,514, the Vote Leave EU Referendum campaign claimed 72 that were forced on us “against our will”. A whole six per year.
So – what inequities were forced upon us? What degradation, what humiliations, were imposed on our proud island nation?
29/03/1996 – EU: Food labels should say if Aspartame is present.
Linked to cancer, headaches and seizures, even Pepsi USA stopped using it by 2015.
29/04/1996 – EU: Ban on livestock growth-boosters with hormonal, thyrostatic or beta-agonist effects.
03/06/1996 – EU: Safety advisers dealing with transport of dangerous goods on public roads etc. must be properly trained and regulated.
27/06/1996 – EU: We need some conservation measures to preserve North Atlantic fish stocks.
22/07/1996 – EU: Additives to mineral water must be safe and labels must be honest (e.g. “spring water” has to come from an actual spring).
24/09/1996 – EU: Posted workers must be given the same pay and conditions as local workers.
09/12/1996 – EU: Let’s have a consistent approach to data collection on goods traded between member states.
17/03/1997 – EU: Let’s tighten up on livestock health checks, paperwork and traceability.Soon after 10 million animals were slaughtered during foot and mouth.
26/02/2013 – EU: Canary Islands, Azores, Madeira etc are struggling due to their remoteness. Let’s help them?
24/06/2013 – EU: We need prudential supervision of credit institutions and investment firms so that the 2008 crash doesn’t happen again.
10/10/2013 – EU: We want to make some changes to the employment contract for EU staff.
More pointless budget grandstanding.
12/02/2014 – EU: Please help to fund our Hercule III programme to combat irregularities, fraud and corruption affecting the EU budget.
11/03/2014 – EU: Let”s provide funds for the most deprived citizens – these people are really suffering.
12/03/2014 – EU: We need to agree rules for funding stuff like development, democracy, human rights.
12/03/2014 – EU: We want to establish an instrument to fund stability and peace in countries.
12/03/2014 – EU: Let’s establish a financing instrument for the promotion of democracy and human rights around the world.
12/03/2014 – EU: Let’s establish an instrument for cooperation with third countries.
12/03/2014 – EU: Let’s establish an instrument for development cooperation.
12/03/2014 – EU: Measures to reduce poverty, promote development, trade, education and science in countries that border the EU.
12/03/2014 – EU: Help for pre-accession countries to get ready for joining the EU.
16/04/2014 – EU: Measures to give workers protection from exploitation.
16/04/2014 – EU: Boring bit of housekeeping on staff pensions.
30/09/2014 – EU: Now, no political donations from dodgy Russians, or criminals.
13/10/2014 – EU: Enhanced labelling for EU agricultural products; not just nutritional information, but also food safety, traceability, authenticity, health, animal welfare, environment, sustainability.
More budget grandstanding for the Mail readers.
05/03/2015 – EU: These measures will protect national statistical authorities from interference by their national governments.
05/03/2015 – EU: Some rules about type approval of e-Call systems (which automatically call 999 in a car crash)
23/06/2015 – EU: The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) needs more judges to deal with a big backlog of cases.
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