Labour is to launch an all-out assault on the government’s “undemocratic” and “unacceptable” plans to legislate for Brexit, setting the scene for months of parliamentary warfare.
Ministers are due to introduce the so-called Great Repeal Bill for its second reading in the House of Commons on Thursday.
The bill incorporates most existing EU law into domestic legislation while repealing the act that took Britain into the EU in 1973.
But in a sign of the parliamentary battles ahead, Labour has written to David Davis, the Brexit secretary, demanding wholesale changes to the legislation and warning that it fails to guarantee “crucial rights and protections” for citizens.
Significantly the letter, which has been passed to The Times, calls for the bill to be altered to ensure that it does not rule out Britain’s continuing participation in the single market, customs union and European Court of Justice during a transition period.
It also demands that parliament be given the right to replicate new European laws on workers’ rights, the environment and consumer protection that are passed by the EU after Britain leaves the bloc.
With a working majority of just 13, government whips have told Theresa May she faces an uphill struggle to pass the bill unamended. Labour intends to appeal to pro-European Tory backbenchers to get behind its new “softer” Brexit strategy with a series of amendments that will be published in autumn.
In the letter Sir Keir Starmer, Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary, accuses Mr Davis of using the legislation to hand “unprecedented and undemocratic powers” to ministers while “grabbing power” from the devolved administrations in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
“As drafted, the bill would sideline parliament on key decisions, hoard unnecessary powers in Whitehall and fail to guarantee crucial rights and protections after we leave the EU,” he writes.
“These concerns are serious, reasonable and responsible. They are not designed to frustrate Brexit but to ensure that the right approach is taken and that jobs, living standards and rights are protected.”
He said that unless the government moved to address its concerns, Labour would have “no choice but to oppose this divisive and deficient legislation”.
Senior Labour figures believe that the government is vulnerable to defeat in several key areas.
Among them are so-called Henry VIII powers in the legislation that would allow ministers to change UK law after Brexit without the need for a vote in the House of Commons.
Other controversial areas include repealing the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights from UK law on Brexit day without replicating it in domestic law.
The bill as it stands would also mean UK citizens losing their right to sue the UK government for damages as a result of a failure to comply with their own laws.
This could affect areas such as environment pollution where the government has repeatedly failed to meet EU standards, which critics say has caused long-term damage to health.
Sir Keir told The Times that the bill made a mockery of the Leave campaign’s pledge to “take back control” of Britain’s laws.
“Far from taking back control, this bill puts control firmly in the hands of ministers, not parliament,” he said. “The power to decide what transitional arrangements should be put in place and when they take effect should be for parliament.”
The government is yet to signal whether it is prepared to concede on any of the demands or will try to tough it out and force its pro-EU MPs into line.
