Henry VIII came to the throne in 1509 but still seems to be haunting us today. He had rather a liking for legislating by proclamation, bypassing parliament and deciding laws by himself, a provision which governments continue to use as a convenient way of ministers altering laws without the bother of asking parliament. This is slightly extraordinary in a modern parliamentary democracy but is tolerated because it's convenient for minor changes to the law.
However, The Repeal Bill, once described by Bill Cash as very simple, is going to be extremely complex with the potential to create legal vacuums if particular circumstances in all kinds of EU regulations and directives are overlooked. To give ministers the power to alter laws quickly The Repeal Bill, to be published on Thursday, is expected to include giving wide ranging, so-called Henry VIII powers, to ministers allowing them to make all kinds of changes as the needs arise to avoid legal uncertainty.
There is a lot of unhappiness in both Houses of Parliament about this and it seems a cross party group has been formed (HERE) to oppose the government's plans for a hard Brexit and the granting of these extra parliamentary powers. This matters a lot. If the government does not receive parliamentary approval to ministers to give them Henry VIII powers, some people think Brexit might not even happen. This because it will be so difficult and time consuming to modify all of the laws that might be impacted using proper parliamentary procedures.
There is no majority in The House for Brexit and no incentive for MPs to bend on the principle of denying Henry VIII powers unless it is absolutely necessary. With a minority government and a weak prime minister, a long running parliamentary guerrilla war whilst simultaneously conducting negotiations compared to the second world war or the 1969 moon landings, drafting up sweeping new policies for immigration, agriculture and fishing as well as renegotiating 35 trade and 750 other treaties that we will lose on exit, looks to be a massive challenge - even if the people involved were competent and plentiful, which they aren't. It looks like a long and exciting eighteen months - for remainers that is, for Brexiteers it is going to be terrifying.
