| Author (Person) | Philpott, Tim |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Business for Britain |
| Series Title | BfB Briefing |
| Series Details | No.8, March 2015 |
| Publication Date | 2015 |
| Content Type | Report |
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Research for the Business for Britain organisation (critical of the EU) published in March 2015 suggested that that 64.7% of the laws introduced in the UK since 1993 either originate from the European Union (EU) or are deemed to be EU influenced by the House of Commons Library. As part of an effort to provide a reliable, independent assessment of this hotly contested calculation, the analysis combined House of Commons research and a Business for Britain examination of EU regulations to reveal the true amount of law driven by the EU law introduced in the UK. The percentage of laws originating from the EU is far higher than numbers previously cited by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, but also lower than those quoted by Nigel Farage in the 2014 head to head TV debates. Key findings: + Between 1993 and 2014, 64.7% of UK law can be deemed to be EU-influenced. EU regulations accounted for 59.3% of all UK law. UK laws implementing EU directives accounted for 5.4% of total laws in force in UK. + This body of legislation consists of 49,699 exclusively ‘EU’ regulations, 4,532 UK measures which implement EU directives and 29,573 UK only laws. + This large percentage is driven by EU regulations. This is important because EU regulations are transposed into national law without passing through Parliament. Hence, they do not appear in studies by the House of Commons Library such as the most recent, placing the proportion of EU legislation at just 13.3%. Analysis of the EU’s influence on British law has too often been hijacked for political purposes, leading to disputes over the true number. This study acknowledges that not every EU regulation will impact Britain such as rules on olive and tobacco growing, but the rules remain in force across the UK and many UK laws will impact businesses differently i.e food hygiene laws not affecting a hairdresser. In his Bloomberg speech in 2013, the Prime Minister questioned whether the ‘balance was right where the European Union has legislated including on the environment, social affairs and crime’ and highlighted it was “neither right nor necessary to claim that the integrity of the single market, or full membership of the European Union requires the working hours of British hospital doctors to be set in Brussels irrespective of the views of British parliamentarians and practitioners. FactCheckEU (see related url) wrote that the report was 'the result of a flawed methodology which is not grounded in previous research and has resulted in a serious over-estimation'. |
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| Source Link | Link to Main Source http://forbritain.org/percentagelaws.pdf |
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| Subject Categories | Politics and International Relations |
| Countries / Regions | United Kingdom |
