• WHAT’S all this fuss about Henry VIII powers? How does it affect me? The detail is yawningly procedural, but the issue it raises – the balance of power between government (Whitehall) and Parliament (Westminster) – is of the first importance to all of us.

Many Brexiters in last year’s referendum called for power to be restored to Westminster. Whatever we think of their argument, their hearts were surely in the right place. No one was arguing for Brexit to bring about a massive transfer of power to Whitehall, but this is what’s coming if we don’t stop it.

Some readers may find a short explanation helpful. There are two main forms of legislation in this country – primary (Acts of Parliament) and secondary (regulations).

Parliament has extensive powers to scrutinise and amend the broad policy provisions we see in acts. But it simply couldn’t function if it had to use this time-consuming procedure to approve all the underlying detail. So it delegates the detail to government to settle in regulations over which Parliament has, in practical terms, very little power.

This may be tolerable if the regulations are confined to uncontentious, technical matters. But, unless there’s effective scrutiny, it gives governments scope to push through, under the radar, matters of serious policy concern.

The EU (Withdrawal) Bill, now before Parliament, in effect proposes that much of the work of transposing EU-derived law into UK law should be done by regulations. Understandably: the task of transferring the last 44 years’ worth of legislation into the new, post-Brexit format is huge, and has to be done fast.

There wouldn’t be a constitutional problem if Parliament had effective powers quickly to sift regulations coming through; to scrutinise more closely any that appeared to need it; and to call for amendment of any that were seriously problematic.

But MPs haven’t had effective scrutiny over regulations for many years. Even without the Withdrawal Bill, the arrangements badly needed reform. The Withdrawal Bill and other Brexit-related legislation now on the stocks make the case for reform more pressing than ever.

The devil is going to be in the detail of regulations on a whole range of issues – workplace rights, environmental protection, food safety, immigration rules, medical licensing, aviation rights, water quality, trading standards and much, much more.

Ministers ask us to trust them. They assure us they’ll carry out the task in good faith if we leave them to get on with it. But there’s at least a risk that some of the EU-derived rights, protections and obligations we’ve long taken for granted will be undermined before anyone knows it. Reassurances that ministers give today won’t, in any case, bind future governments.

Whether pro-Brexit or anti-, we can now, surely, make common cause across the Brexit divide. It sounds boring, but we must all call for MPs to be given proper powers of scrutiny. Restore power to Westminster means restore power to Westminster.

P LAIDLAW
Address supplied