Retained EU Law Bill – an update

UPDATED 25th May 2023

A lot has happened with the Retained EU Law Bill over the last few weeks and it is likely to change again soon but an update was long overdue. You might have seen in the news in the last week or so that the Government has decided to flip the way that the Bill would work. This means that instead of all unsaved EU law disappearing at the end of the year, the only legislation to go at the end of the year will be legislation the Government has directly chosen to remove. You can see the current list of laws the government wants to revoke here, it does not currently include the legislation that protects bats and their roosts.

However, while this is a welcome change, the Bill still presents a massive risk to our bats and other wildlife, since it hands power to government ministers to weaken or remove laws without adequate parliamentary scrutiny or consultation. As such, we support Lord Krebs’ amendment (amendment 48) which introduces a safeguard for environmental protections by preventing government from lowering environmental standards from their current level. We are very disappointed that the Government rejected this amendment. We would strongly support this safeguard being reintroduced in the Bill as it is our best chance, save the whole Bill being withdrawn, of ensuring the Bill does not undermine bat, and other wildlife, protection or harm the environment more widely.

It is hard to know exactly what will happen and when since this is a fast moving situation. We want to thank you for your patience and support through this process. We are very grateful to everyone who has contacted their MP over the last few months or supported our efforts in other ways, from donating to helping to raise awareness of this threat to bat conservation.

We will keep you updated over the coming weeks. If you want to join our mailing and receive email updates please add your details here: http://eepurl.com/gGqJDH

FURTHER INFORMATION:

Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill (Government website): https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3340

Bat Conservation has never faced a greater threat (November 2022) https://www.bats.org.uk/news/2022/11/bat-conservation-has-never-faced-a-greater-threat