Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to propose the introduction of specific legally enforceable provisions to maintain, following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, all rights and judicial remedies contained in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights that do not have equivalents in current or envisaged UK law, in particular those relating to (1) protections for personal data, (2) workers’ rights, (3) women, (4) elderly citizens, (5) disabled people, and (6) LGBTI people.

The Charter did not create new rights, but reaffirmed rights which already existed in EU law. The EU (Withdrawal) Bill sets out that the Charter of Fundamental Rights will not form part of domestic law after exit. The Bill will retain the rights and principles which underpin the Charter and exist elsewhere in EU law or existing domestic law.

The Government’s intention, therefore, is that in itself the non-incorporation of the Charter into UK law should not affect the substantive rights that individuals already benefit from in the UK.

On 5 December 2017 the Government published a right-by-right analysis of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, setting out how each substantive right found in the Charter will be reflected in the domestic law of the UK. It looks at how the right will flow through retained EU law and how it will otherwise be protected by existing domestic law or international law after exit.