Oral Answers to Questions Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateHannah Bardell
Main Page: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)Department Debates - View all Hannah Bardell's debates with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
(6 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberWith permission, Mr Speaker, I will answer this question along with Questions 8 and 9.
Order. Question 9 has in fact been withdrawn. The Attorney General did not need to know that and clearly did not know that, which is no indictment of him, but it has been withdrawn.
The United Kingdom has a long tradition of ensuring that rights and liberties are protected domestically, and of fulfilling its international human rights obligations. The decision to leave the European Union does not change this.
When the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill returns to this House, we will debate the EU charter of fundamental rights. Will the Government support the codification of the charter into UK law following its departure from the EU, and will they support their own Back Benchers’ amendments that have cross-party support?
No. The reason is that the charter of fundamental rights, as the Labour Government indicated at the time, does not create any new rights. It incorporates rights that are already part of European Union law, and the Government’s intention is to translate those substantive rights into domestic law by the operation of the withdrawal Act. We do not intend to incorporate the charter of fundamental rights into domestic law.