Calls for Brexit clarification

Society for the Environment seeks reassurance on new laws

The Society for the Environment, alongside six other professional bodies within the Environmental Policy Forum (EPF), warns that time is running out to effectively transpose EU environmental rulings into UK law.

The EPF is a network of UK environmental professional bodies and learned societies promoting environmental sustainability and resilience for the public benefit. The EPF’s member bodies have a collective membership of around 70,000 environmental professionals, many of whom are individually chartered in environmental practice, science and engineering disciplines.

The Society stated that it  recognises that the Government needs to ensure the EU (Withdrawal) Bill meets the overall purpose of enabling full transposition of EU law into UK law in a timely manner. However, it remains deeply concerned by the apparent lack of parliamentary scrutiny and the lack of time remaining for the development of the secondary legislation required for a working statute book on exit day.

The Society also stated that it is essential that sufficient time and resource is made available for parliamentary committees to review and decide upon the appropriate level of scrutiny necessary for each statutory instrument.