Hansard

I will open with a slightly amended quotation from a novel that was written on Jura almost 75 years ago. It is George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four”.

“It was a bright cold day in”

November,

“and the clocks were striking thirteen.”

The clock is striking 13. In just 13 months, if the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill is passed at Westminster, thousands of laws that were retained on our statute books after Scotland was dragged out of the EU against the will of our people will be sunsetted—discontinued or terminated—unless they are signed off by UK Government ministers to be kept.

That involves up to 4,000 pieces of legislation, covering areas including workers’ rights, animal health and welfare, and nature and environmental protections.

EU legislation was scrutinised and shaped over the 47 years for which we were a member state. In evidence to the CEEAC Committee, Dr Hood KC said:

“it is important to realise that that legislation, throughout the whole period of our EU membership, has become woven into so much of our law.”—[Official Report, Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee, 10 November 2022; c 23.]

The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill has been widely criticised as “reckless” and “anti-democratic” by legal experts, because of the unprecedented powers that it gives UK ministers. The bill has been described as “not fit for purpose” by the UK Government’s own independent assessor. It has been suggested that the bill represents a push for deregulation at the expense of common sense.

Food Standards Scotland, in written evidence to the CEEAC Committee, said

“The removal of Retained EU Law would not therefore return the UK statute book to the UK standards that existed prior to REUL. It would return us to a time where little in the way of any standards applied.”

It went on to say that

“A critical purpose of food law is to prevent poor quality, unsafe food reaching the market. Regulation should restrict poor and unsafe practices because its purpose is to provide public protection. De-regulation that removes consumer protection should not be assumed to be an improvement.”

However, even with the deluge of concern from across civil society, the business community and the legal profession, the Tory Government continues unabated on its ideological journey to take advantage of the benefits of Brexit, whatever they might be.

Scottish Government modelling shows that Scotland’s economy and social wellbeing are disproportionately impacted by Brexit, with Scotland’s gross domestic product set by 2030 to be £9 billion lower in 2016 cash terms than it would have been with continued EU membership. His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs data shows a £2.2 billion slump in Scottish exports since Brexit.

Then there are the UK’s flagship post-Brexit trade deals. The one with Australia is

“not actually a very good deal”,

according to former environment secretary George Eustice. In relation to the Japan trade deal, figures that have been collated by the Department for International Trade show that exports fell from £12.3 billion to £11.9 billion in the year to June 2022.

Last week, when the CEEAC Committee heard evidence on the bill from fisheries, agriculture and food representatives, they stressed the worries about the impact on trade. For the Scottish salmon sector, its top export markets are the EU member states, which in 2019 accounted for 70 per cent of Scottish seafood exports, at a value of £774 million. In evidence at that meeting, Seafood Scotland described pre-Brexit trade by saying that

“selling to Glasgow was like selling to France”,

in that it was a simple and straightforward process. The post-Brexit situation is different, and Seafood Scotland gave this stark warning:

“It has been a real, real shock to the system to try and now operate under the Brexit model in costs, time etc. So there is a real fear as well, that deregulation and any standards that are lowered from our side would interrupt that trade again”.

Two weeks ago, I attended the RSPB’s celebration of nature awards. Across Scotland, communities are creating projects to restore nature and halt biodiversity loss. It was fantastic to see Argyll and Bute organisations so well represented. The winner of the coast and waters award was the fantastic charity Seawilding, which works at Loch Craignish.

In other categories, Argyll and the Isles Coast and Countryside Trust and SSEN Transmission were nominated for the work that they are doing on restoring the Celtic rainforest. I declare that I am species champion for the Celtic rainforest. The Ardura community forest project on Mull and “Beataidh Banrigh Super-Bee”—the great yellow bumble bee book from Tiree—were also shortlisted. There was such positivity in the room. Those are all stakeholders.

However, there was also huge concern. Anne McCall, who is director of RSPB Scotland, has, along with more than 40 other environmental groups, called the bill “an attack on nature”. She described nature as being in crisis, and said:

“The Retained EU Law Bill risks scrapping the Habitats Regulations, which safeguard our most important wildlife and wild places.”

It is unacceptable that the UK Government has unveiled sweeping measures that will have major consequences for Scotland with such little discussion or, indeed, respect for this Parliament and Scottish ministers. The bill is yet another power grab from Westminster on our devolution, which threatens Scotland’s democracy, economy, consumer and worker rights and the environment. In “Nineteen Eighty-Four”, Big Brother had all inconvenient truths consigned to the “memory hole” and oblivion. With the bill, the Tory Government plans to consign laws that protect precious rights to its memory hole, and oblivion.

Last night, in his Mansion house speech, the current Prime Minister laid out his Government’s approach to foreign policy. He said:

“We will evolve, anchored always by our enduring belief in freedom, openness and the rule of law and confident that, in this moment of challenge and competition, our interests will be protected and our values will prevail.”

Might I politely suggest that the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill is not “anchored ... in freedom” or “openness” and that the only way that our interests here in Scotland

“will be protected and our values ... prevail”

is by Scotland rejoining the European family of nations by regaining our independence.