When former Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg introduced the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, around 4000 laws were due to be scrapped at the end of this year. He and his pro-Brexit supporters had no idea which ones will disappear, what, if anything, will replace them and which ones will be kept. This has been replaced with a list of almost 600 laws that will be revoked or sunset by the end of this year. Each law on the list is shown with its associated government department, its purpose and the reason for revocation.
The Department for Business & Trade (DBT) has published a spreadsheet with a total of 587 laws to be revoked or sunset by the end of this year. Here is a breakdown of the laws on the revocation list by department:
| Department Name | Abbreviation | Number of Laws |
|---|---|---|
| Cabinet Office | CO | 1 |
| Department for Business & Trade | DBT | 4 |
| Department for Culture, Media & Sport | DCMS | 2 |
| Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs | DEFRA | 342 |
| Department for Energy Security & Net Zero | DESNZ | 67 |
| Department for Transport | DFT | 69 |
| Department of Health & Social Care | DHSC | 1 |
| Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities | DLUHC | 6 |
| Department for Science, Innovation & Technology | DSIT | 14 |
| Department for Work & Pensions | DWP | 41 |
| Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office | FCDO | 9 |
| Food Standards Agency | FSA | 8 |
| HM Revenue & Customs | HMRC | 14 |
| HM Treasury | HMT | 1 |
| Home Office | HO | 5 |
| Ministry of Justice | MOJ | 3 |
This list does not contain any weights and measures legislation. The laws listed in the Rees-Mogg’s legislation time bomb MV article are safe and are here to stay.
The main reasons for revocation are:
| Reason for Revocation | Number of Laws |
|---|---|
| Inoperable | 117 |
| Redundant | 102 |
| No longer relevant | 322 |
| Expired | 41 |
| Superseded | 37 |
| Duplicate of existing legislation | 11 |
| No longer required | 14 |
| Unnecessary | 48 |
| Principal regulation to be revoked/already revoked | 10 |
These reasons are not mutually exclusive. More than one of these reasons may be given for some laws on the list.
Some reasons for revocation are a matter of opinion. Others may beg to differ. For this reason, it is important that the removal of these listed laws is subject to parliamentary scrutiny and consultation with affected stakeholders. The removal of laws should not be subject to the whims of ministers. There is still time for improvements to be made to the Bill. The REUL Bill is now going through its final stages. Parliament is considering the proposed amendments to the Bill.
The retention of existing weights and measures legislation ensures that the metric system will remain the primary system of measurement for trade and commerce. Imperial units can still be used as supplementary indications alongside metric units. The use of a single measurement system for trade and commerce is the cornerstone of consumer protection and price transparency.
Further Reading:
- https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schedule-of-retained-eu-law
- https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.publishing.service.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fuploads%2Fsystem%2Fuploads%2Fattachment_data%2Ffile%2F1157327%2Fschedule_of_retained_eu_law_to_revoke_or_sunset.ods&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK (Schedule of REUL to Revoke or Sunset spreadsheet)
- https://www.gov.uk/government/news/smarter-regulation-unveiled-to-cut-red-tape-and-grow-the-economy
- https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3340 (REUL Bill)
Metric Views 
It looks like they have pretty much given up on trying to permit imperial units for trade. Which just goes to show that once people are use to metric units, they don’t want to go back and ultimately there is little appetite to do so. The problem is fighting political will and initial hostilities. Shame that it has been such an unnecessarily drawn out process.
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Alex M,
You may have missed the article that appeared in the Telegraph over a month ago. Here is a link to it:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/13/post-brexit-plan-to-bring-back-pounds-and-ounces-stalls/
According to the article: “Despite a pledge from Boris Johnson at the last election to restore the “ancient liberty” of using pounds and ounces, an official consultation has found that businesses and voters largely prefer the metric system.”
Knowing that despite the so called consultation being worded in such a way to assure that the choice for returning to imperial would be solid, the message of the people and industry made it through loud and clear that the vast majority do not want to return to imperial.
The paragraph posted claims that Boris Johnson pledged or promised a return to imperial as a part of Brexit. But, Johnson was ousted from power along with most of the other supporters of anti-metrication which means their promise is no longer valid.
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Post-Brexit Push For Imperial Measurements Could Be Revived
https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/post-brexit-imperial-measurements-drive-revived?fbclid=IwAR3evPG7-TC0rVr9dj4girrZBHyNp7ObtCRd8GdOAjnAumsZj7Q-SZO5x5U
Despite nobody wanting to return to imperial the Luddites are insisting there be a reversion.
Actually from this article, it appears the only way satisfy the Luddites is to allow them to use imperial in their shops. But, aren’t they already doing this? Problem is with so many people preferring metric, these shops are being silently boycotted. The whole reason for this push back to imperial is a vain attempt to force everyone to sell in imperial, so there is no longer a metric advantage and the Luddites hope with no metric advantage business will return to their shops. So, is the whole economy supposed to suffer for their folly?
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Some indication that the government will seek to revive Imperial units in the upcoming King’s speech:
https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/post-brexit-imperial-measurements-drive-revived
The Mad Hatter must be in charge again. How daft is this? Let’s hope this effort stalls and finally gets consigned to oblivion once and for all.
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