Plan to ditch all EU law poses risk to food standards – NFU

Government plans to review or revoke about 4,000 pieces of EU legacy law are facing mounting opposition, amid concerns they pose a risk to food and farming standards.

The Retained EU Law Bill currently making its way through the House of Lords will automatically abolish all EU legislation on 31 December 2023, unless action is taken to preserve it.

See also: Regional jobs at risk of redundancy in NFU restructure

Defra has by far the biggest burden of legislation to consider, with responsibility for more than 1,700 of the pieces of law facing the axe, covering a range of issues including animal health and welfare and the environment.

In a briefing sent to peers, seen by Farmers Weekly, the NFU raised a series of concerns about the plans.

It claimed the December 2023 deadline would put “considerable resource strain” on Defra and risked the loss of important regulatory protections, as well as the opportunity to design better approaches in some areas.

The union also said it would have to divert its own resources away from important work in order to undertake an “extensive internal review” of the affected legislation, which is only listed in a spreadsheet with no alphabetic order.

The warning comes shortly after reports of a series of planned redundancies across the organisation.

The briefing said: “The NFU has significant concerns about the Bill’s transfer of considerable legislative powers to ministers to modify or revoke regulations, potentially reducing the degree of scrutiny new legislation will receive.

“This could result in substantial policy changes being rushed through without proper parliamentary scrutiny or engagement with stakeholders.

“This increases the risk of unintended consequences and adverse impacts on businesses and minimises accountability for important policy decisions.”

Food and farming alliance Sustain hit out at the plans too, with the group’s head of public affairs, Orla Delargy, saying ministers were asking for a “blank cheque” to get rid of regulations without consultation.

“Putting our food and farming standards at such risk is foolhardy and an unwelcome distraction from dealing with the problems our farmers and wider food system are facing,” she added.

The Bill will head to committee stage in the House of Lords next week, where amendments will be tabled for consideration by the House of Commons.