The bill would create a new framework for the U.K. government and devolved administrations to adopt new EU laws when they are passed in Brussels.
It raises the prospect that new EU laws in agreed areas will effectively transfer to the U.K. statute book automatically, with Britain retaining the power to veto them in specific cases. U.K. officials stress that the exact form the powers will take has not yet been decided.
The U.K. is currently negotiating a Brexit “reset” agreement with the bloc, including an agrifood deal, plans to link its emissions trading system with the EU’s and reintegrating electricity markets.
Britain is still seeking carve-outs as part of these deals, the official said, making it too early to say exactly where alignment will happen and what it will look like.
News of the scope of the bill comes after EU Relations Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said in August last year that parliament would “rightly have a say” on alignment with new EU rules in a speech delivered to The Spectator.
He has insisted that the U.K. will still “have decision-shaping rights when new EU policies are made.”
A U.K. government spokesperson said: “The UK-EU Reset is improving our diplomatic, economic and security cooperation and will be worth £9 billion to the UK economy by 2040. We will legislate to deliver on this, and further details of the bill will be announced in due course.”
This story has been updated to include a comment from the U.K. government.