Animal Health and Genetically Modified Organisms (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Martin Whitfield
Main Page: Martin Whitfield (Labour - East Lothian)Department Debates - View all Martin Whitfield's debates with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Animal Health and Genetically Modified Organisms (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019
Martin Whitfield Excerpts(4 years, 8 months ago)
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Martin Whitfield (East Lothian) (Lab)
I am glad to see the Minister back in his place. With regard to the minor errors contained in those earlier regulations, is he assured that there are no minor errors in these regulations?
George Eustice
As I have made clear many times, this is a complex set of regulations. Some 80% of all the Department’s legislation comes from the European Union, so it has been a huge task for officials to bring it all across into retained EU law. I pay tribute to them for the huge amount of work that has gone into that. It is inevitable that, in such a complex operation, there will be occasional errors, oversights or changes. That is why the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 provided for the ability, in the event of drafting errors being made, for them to be corrected for a period of time after we leave the European Union.
I have answered that as honestly as I can; I hope this is the final word. I did many of these statutory instruments the first time round and my right hon. Friend the Member for Scarborough and Whitby did many more after I left the post, so we are returning to familiar issues to update the legislation.