On the first day of the committee stage of the Withdrawal Bill, Ken Clarke asked Steve Baker, Minister of State at DEXEU, who opened the debate, if he could name one EU law that the British government had not supported when it was being discussed in Europe and which we would repeal after Brexit. Those not in the House might be surprised at the answer.
Mr Baker told MPs it was the Ports Regulations! I must confess my ignorance here. No doubt most of the seventeen million people who voted to leave the EU went into the polling booth with the egregious Ports Regulations uppermost in their mind but I have to come clean - I've never heard of them. I had to Google it to find out (HERE). First of all, they only come into effect in March 2019.
Secondly, the EU are trying to create a level playing field among European ports, many of which are state owned and receive various sorts of aid from the public purse, not all of which is transparent. UK ports are all privately owned and are trying to get exemptions from the regulations (HERE). That's it in a nutshell.
And this is why we are leaving the EU, at least according to Steve Baker.
In truth what Ken Clarke was driving at is the whole idea of EU laws being "forced" on us is completely untrue. He has asked the same question of lots of Brexiteers but has never had an answer. This brings me to a point I have often made on this blog. After powers are returned to Westminster (assuming we actually leave which I am not at all convinced about) I imagine the Brexiteers looking at each other, asking which laws need to be modified or repealed and finding no one can think of any.
Even if someone can find a law to reform, my guess is that when they go through the detail they will find EU law is actually well written and useful.
