EU regulation

Nearly six years on from the referendum on membership of the EU, Brexit is still dominating the news. Despite COVID and the numerous scandals, both political and now royal, the B word has been a constant backdrop to our lives.

The Prime Minister and his fans insist that Brexit got done, yet the appointment of Rees-Mogg as Minister of State for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency tells a different story. During the referendum campaign we were promised the moon on a stick once we left the EU. The opportunities would be obvious and all of us by now would be wearing eye protection to shade us from the glare of the sunlit uplands. The need to appoint a minister to identify such opportunities belies the hype (lies).

Every prospective government promises to improve efficiency and slash red tape yet most actual governments end up adding more and more legislation. Our post Brexit world is a case in point with much more bureaucracy involved in importing and exporting goods. Despite protestations of Brussels inefficiency these are conditions that were well known we would face as a self declared third country.

In an act that smacks of desperation, Rees-Mogg has written an article in the Sun. ‘I want Sun readers to write to me and tell me of ANY petty old EU regulation that should be abolished.’ As if Sun readers, or those of any other paper would know. The number of people who actually understand how legislation is arrived at is miniscule compared to the population. Most of them work in Westminster. That is what we pay MPS to do.

If EU legislation is, or was such a problem then it should have been obvious to the legislature. The Government should have had a list ready of bills it wished to repeal. It doesn’t, instead it is just another oven ready deal that vanishes upon closer inspection. By writing to the public for ideas it shows that the government has none of its own, other than a populist instinct.

The referendum was supposed to sort out our relationship with the EU once and for all. Nearly six years on the Torys are still using it as a scapegoat for their own incompetence.