“The Government is on track to reform” – A lot of EU rules will stay in place in Britain until at least 2026 – Could this be right?

The government said Thursday that Britain will keep thousands of EU laws for at least the next two years. They set new goals for the very slow process of getting rid of EU laws from British law after Brexit.

Britain’s original plan was to get rid of all retained EU laws (REUL) by the end of 2023. This was a key policy goal for hardline Brexit supporters, but businesses were worried about legal confusion and bureaucratic chaos.

The government gave up on that plan in May of last year and now only wants to get rid of about 600 EU rules by the end of 2023.

The government said in a report released on Monday that it planned to “revoke or reform approximately 500 instruments” in 2024. By June 2026, the government hoped to have reviewed or revoked more than half of these laws.

“The Government is on track to reform or revoke over half of the entire stock of REUL accrued in the more than 40 years that the UK was a member of the EU by June 2026,” the business ministry stated in a report.

A government database that keeps track of leftover REUL shows that 33% of the 6,757 laws that are still in effect have been changed, revoked, or replaced.

It was said by Kemi Badenoch, the Secretary for Business and Trade, that the government was “reducing the number of new regulations and ensuring the wider regulatory landscape is effective and fit for purpose.”
“Much has been done, but there is still a lot to do,” she said at the beginning of the report.