Dozens of EU laws will be imported to the UK under new legislation to be introduced by Sir Keir Starmer.
As the Government’s controversial drive to bring Britain closer to Brussels again gets under way, the Prime Minister will bring forward a bill helping the process in the next parliamentary session.
To be announced in May’s King’s Speech, it will allow ministers to quickly transfer swathes of European Union law to the statute book – prompting fresh accusations that Labour is reversing Brexit by stealth.
Officials are said to have already identified 76 directives and regulations, covering everything from organic pet food to marmalade, that will be adopted by Britain in order to secure a deal on food and agriculture standards.
The Government wants the so-called Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement, which Rachel Reeves said on Tuesday would ‘directly impact food prices in our shops’, to be concluded at a summit around the time of the tenth anniversary of the Brexit referendum this June.
The new law will then pave the way for other EU edicts to be adopted, after the Chancellor announced last week that she wants closer alignment in sectors across the economy.
Chairman of the European Research Group Mark Francois said: ‘So, the salami-slicing of our sovereignty by Labour is now set to be officially confirmed in this May’s King’s Speech.
‘This is shameless Europhile behaviour by a zombie Government, facing humiliation at the polls and seeking solace by cosying up to the EU – at the expense of our hard-won democratic freedoms, which they now want to surrender, one sector at a time.’
Sir Keir Starmer pictured in Ireland earlier in March at a summit to strengthen post-Brexit ties
Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith said: ‘With business already reeling under an onslaught of red tape – from employment law to packaging, sugar and tourism taxes – the last thing our stuttering economy needs is importing 76 extra new laws from the no-growth EU.’
Former Brexit negotiator Lord Frost told the Financial Times, which first revealed details of the new law: ‘The new bill will sideline democratic UK lawmakers by making a whole range of EU laws applicable in Britain without us getting any say in them. That’s not alignment, it’s subordination.’
And senior Reform UK MP Robert Jenrick said: ‘Rachel Reeves wants to reignite a Brexit debate to distract from her dire handling of the economy.
‘This latest ploy will do nothing to lower taxes or cut people’s bills, but it will pile on yet more bureaucracy to struggling businesses.’
It comes amid growing calls by senior figures within Labour for the UK to go even further and rejoin the customs union or single market.
London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan has called for the party to campaign to go back into the trade bloc – reversing the ‘red lines’ in its last election manifesto.
But he was rebuffed by Business Secretary Peter Kyle, who said the UK should be making most of its freedom to secure trade deals with the rest of the world.
He told LBC: ‘I think right now we have the policy that is right for the moment we’re in: make sure we have the reset, that we explore all the opportunities we have with the EU, with the US, and also looking at the additional trade deals we’ve got around the world.
‘Rather than plunging ourselves into a very long, protracted debate about rejoining we need to be looking at all of the incredible opportunities there are out there for partnerships around the world, both multilaterally and bilaterally, country-to-country.’
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Keir Starmer to introduce new bill that will force Britain to follow 76 European Union edicts on food standards as Labour’s drive to get closer to Brussels again gets under way