The government has caused some excitement today as it plans to use “Henry VIII powers” (secondary legislation) to realign our economy with the EU on food standards as part of Keir Starmer’s European reset. The story was broken by the Guardian and the FT, with quotes from supportive government sources, and then followed by the right-wing papers with varying degrees of hysteria. The Conservatives have called it a betrayal of Brexit.
In some ways this is a peculiar story. The government’s intention to realign with the EU has been explicit. The focus on food standards was established at the reset summit last year and this mechanism of “Henry VIII powers” was always going to be the way to do it: just as it was used by Tory ministers when the UK diverged from the EU in the first place.
This new period of dynamic alignment requires a bill to allow the Henry VIII powers, which the Commons will vote on. The Tories will oppose and with their 116 seats they’ll be crushed by the government’s majority.
The funny thing is, we have been here before. Early last year the government sought to realign with the EU on issues like the regulation of online marketplaces and the use of weighing and measuring implements. It passed the Product Regulation and Metrology Act to effect this. At the time the Conservatives excitably called it an “EU Trojan horse” and said they had caught Labour “red-handed” trying to cancel Brexit.
That time the government didn’t engage, avoided the story and instead sold the bill as a way to make online shopping safer without any mention of the EU. Now, it is going headlong into the fight. This is another reminder of how Labour is no longer being shy about its European ambitions.
This piece first appeared in the Morning Call newsletter; receive it every morning by subscribing on Substack here
[Further reading: Michael Ignatieff: Global Orbánism is over]
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