Brexit was marketed under the slogan of taking control. However, what is being presented by PM Boris Johnson as the "Brexit Freedoms Bill" is fast coming across as a betrayal of that promise, giving control to ministers and not even to this country's Parliament.
The idea that Parliament might approve something that disempowers their own Houses and robs them of their duty to the British people seems scandalous. Even if you supported Brexit as a means of freedom from foreign authorities in the EU, it is an absolutely good thing that each and every item of EU legislation should remain in force in the UK until debated and struck down by Parliament.
Individual laws should be confronted
When something is in force, and there is no specific demand to remove it, it can be taken to have the tacit approval of the population, a sort of informal contract. To seek powers that suddenly pull the rug from under the feet of the British people, striking down regulation that they may in fact approve of, without giving MPs the chance to intervene on their behalf, is no favour to the British people.
Now that Britain has left the EU, the Conservatives have every right to argue against and strike down specific bits of EU legislation, or even large portions of it, and they should be pleased with that, rather than trying to remove all of it in a single chop. The desire to strike everything down at once is suspicious, especially considering that many environmental protections were enshrined in EU law and mirrored in UK law.
Remainers were right on this
Even as it seeks the authority to strike down EU legislation without debate, the Conservative government is avoiding making the most of Brexit to benefit the people, such as scrapping the minimum five percent VAT on energy bills enforced by the EU. Such behaviour points to a government that exploited genuine wishes for a divorce from the EU, to pursue power-grabbing and greed.
Remainers warned about this moment for a long time, and they were probably right that Conservatives were only in it as a scheme to benefit business interests. Whether or not they want to continue appending comments denigrating the many millions of people who sought Brexit, their point is valid and must be heeded at this stage.
Right now, the British people are not taking control of anything, but helping ministers take control and override Parliament. People voted to leave the EU because they wanted more control over the laws of the land, not less control, so now there is something for Leavers and Remainers to all agree on, provided that they can put aside partisan loyalty.
