U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has marked the country’s two-year anniversary since it formally withdrew from the European Union to announce new legislation designed to see Britain further diverge from Brussels.
The so-called Brexit Freedoms Bill will reportedly make it easier for British lawmakers to repeal and reform existing EU-mandated legislation currently still in force in Britain, allowing the country to further cement its status as a self-governing, independent nation.
The bill has been brought forward to end the special status of EU law and spark into action a major cross-government drive to cut regulatory red tape, a move which the U.K. government believes will save businesses upwards of £1 billion.
The announcement follows a pledge by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on New Year’s Day to go “further and faster” in 2022 in order to maximize the benefits of Brexit.
Johnson tweeted on Monday that in the two years since Britain formally withdrew from the European Union, it had “taken back control” of its money, borders and laws, in addition to securing “more than 60 free trade deals.
“Now is the time for the whole of the West to come together,” Johnson wrote.
“It is time to put aside the old divisions. As we develop this post-Brexit agenda of freedom, it will be great for Britain and good for the whole of Europe,” he added.
In a press release on the U.K. government’s website, it was explained that “the Bill will make it easier to amend or remove outdated ‘retained EU law’ — legacy EU law kept on the statute book after Brexit as a bridging measure — and will accompany a major cross-government drive to reform, repeal and replace outdated EU law.”
The government described the continuous supremacy of existing EU laws, which had been enforced in Britain through domestic legislation as “simply not compatible with our status as a sovereign, independent country,” and revealed that the government planned to “bring it to an end as quickly as possible.”
Many EU laws had “limited meaningful parliamentary scrutiny, and no democratic legitimacy in the UK at all,” claimed Attorney General, Suella Braverman, who vowed to “take the steps necessary to remove unnecessary rules altogether, and where regulation is needed, ensure that it meets the UK’s objectives.
“This work is key to us taking charge of our regained sovereignty which the British people voted for in 2016 and 2019,” she added.
