Draft Justification Decision Power (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018

Alan Whitehead Excerpts

Wednesday 16th January 2019 General Committees

[Dr Alan Whitehead (Southampton, Test) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Henry. It will be a pretty brief pleasure today, because my understanding is that the draft regulations are simply a device to place into UK law what was previously determined by European provisions. As the Minister outlined, that is necessary because forthcoming justificatory decisions—most notably the decision on the new reactor design for Bradwell—will need to be made within UK rules. If those rules are not in place, the justification process obviously cannot get under way.

As the Minister says, the draft regulations have a pretty obscure title, but they are about taking a cost-benefit approach that ensures not only that new reactor designs are safe, but that the overall environmental effect of ionising radiation from the operating activities of reactors and other devices is justified. Those activities are important, and it is important that we regulate them properly so that in the event of an abrupt Brexit, or even a Brexit that includes a considerable period of adjustment, we have a regime that is fit for purpose. This statutory instrument is part of that; it is not exactly in the same mode as our recent discussions about the future of Euratom, but it is nevertheless in the general area of requiring proper provisions within UK powers after Brexit.

As far as I understand it—I would be grateful if the Minister formally confirmed this—in this instance the justificatory powers themselves are essentially contained in the justificatory powers secondary legislation of 2004, and no malfeasance has been done to those regulations; this process just shifts the operation of those regulations into a UK position. That is my understanding, and I trust that it is the Minister’s as well.