Withdrawal Agreement Bill – initial analysis

October 22, 2019

The UK’s withdrawal from the EU is the biggest constitutional shift in Northern Ireland since our devolution settlement.  The EU (Withdrawal Amendment) Bill is a major piece of constitutional law and the UK Government’s planned agenda will push this through parliament with minimal scrutiny and no time for MPs and Peers to engage with the issues and to understand its impact on our economic and social lives.

Our key concerns: 

• Insufficient time for adequate scrutiny of this important constitutional law;
• Wide-ranging ministerial powers to change law without parliamentary oversight;
• Changes to the Northern Ireland Act without parliamentary oversight;
• Protection of rights limited to acts of the NI Assembly;
• Considerable supervisory powers of the NIHRC and ECNI must be accompanied by adequate budgetary support; and
• Level playing field safeguards on the environment are not included and those on labour and social standards are inadequately protected.

You can read more on the revised Protocol here by downloading our initial thoughts below.