European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020

Territorial extent and application

90. Section 40 sets out the territorial extent of the Act; that is the legal jurisdictions of which the provisions in the Act are intended to form part of the law.
91. The provisions of the Act extend to the whole of the UK except for section 25(1) and paragraph 2 of Schedule 4 which extend to England and Wales and Scotland, and section 25(2) which extends to Northern Ireland only. Where the Act amends or repeals a provision the extent will be the same as the enactment that is amended or repealed. The Act does not extend to any of the Crown Dependencies or Overseas Territories.
92. The UK Parliament does not normally legislate with regard to matters that are within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament, Senedd Cymru or the Northern Ireland Assembly without the consent of the legislature concerned. It is also the practice of the Government to seek the consent of the devolved legislatures for provisions which would alter the competence of those legislatures or the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
93. The provisions for which the Government will seek legislative consent are set out in full in Annex A. These include, for example:
    1. Provisions in Parts 1 and 2 of the Act which legislate in areas of devolved legislative competence or alter the competence of the devolved administrations.
    2. Provisions in Part 3 of the Act which relate to general implementation, insofar as these provisions operate in relation to matters which fall within the legislative competence of the devolved legislatures. This includes sections 31 and 33 which, respectively, confer powers on the devolved administrations to make regulations to implement the TCA and for the purposes of implementing a decision to suspend, terminate, or resume, in whole or in part, the TCA. Part 2 of Schedule 5 of the Act defines areas of devolved competence, in respect of which these powers are conferred on Ministers in the devolved administrations.

Fast-Track Legislation

94. The Government asked Parliament to expedite the parliamentary progress of the Bill. In their report on Fast-track Legislation: Constitutional Implications and Safeguards1, the House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution recommended that the Government should provide more information as to why a piece of legislation should be fast-tracked2.

Why was fast-tracking necessary?

95. The Act was required to implement the Agreements for them to have domestic legal effect and to enable the UK Government to ratify the Agreements. Royal Assent was required before the end of the Transition Period (11pm on 31 December 2020.

What was the justification for fast-tracking each element of the Bill?

96. The Act’s primary purpose was to implement the Agreements and enable the Government to ratify the Agreements before the end of the Transition Period. It was therefore vital that the entire Bill be fast-tracked to have completed all of its Stages and that it gained Royal Assent prior to 11pm on 31 December 2020.

What efforts were made to ensure the amount of time made available for parliamentary scrutiny was maximised?

97. In order for the measures included in the Bill to be effective when the Transition Period came to an end, Royal Assent needed to be secured by 11pm on 31 December 2020. The Government therefore asked Parliament to pass the Bill before that date. Given the reliance on negotiations in order to draft and then pass this legislation, it was not possible to give Parliament more time to scrutinise the Bill.

To what extent were interested parties and outside groups given an opportunity to influence the policy proposal?

98. With the need to pass the legislation prior to the end of the Transition Period following the conclusion of negotiations, there was limited opportunity to give interested parties and outside groups an opportunity to influence the Bill. The Government engaged with relevant Parliamentary Committees throughout the duration of negotiations.

Does the Act include a sunset clause (as well as any appropriate renewal procedure)? If not, why does the Government judge that their inclusion was not appropriate?

99. The Act is required to implement and ratify the Agreements, an international treaty agreed between the UK and EU, and to fulfil the international obligations incumbent on the UK under the Agreements. The inclusion of any sunset clause would not have been appropriate.

Are mechanisms for effective post-legislative scrutiny and review in place? If not, why does the Government judge that their inclusion is not appropriate?

100. The Act is not suitable for post legislative scrutiny as it implements an international treaty.

Was an assessment made as to whether existing legislation was sufficient to deal with any or all of the issues in question?

101. Yes. The Act introduces new measures to implement the Agreements reached with the EU which could not be implemented either via existing Acts or administratively.

Was the relevant parliamentary committee given the opportunity to scrutinise the legislation?

102. Given the need to pass legislation at pace following the conclusion of negotiations with the European Union, the relevant committees were communicated with via correspondence at the time of introduction of the Bill.