Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he plans to take to enable MPs to scrutinise decisions made by the European (a) Parliament and (b) Commission.

The Government is committed to facilitating the scrutiny of EU decisions through the House of Commons European Scrutiny Committee and the Lords EU Committee during the transition period.

In addition, section 13A of the EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (inserted by section 29 of the EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020) provides that if the House of Commons European Scrutiny Committee or the Lords EU Committee publishes a report which states that EU legislation, including Council Decisions, made during the transition period raises a matter of vital national interest, a Minister must make arrangements for a debate in the relevant House within 14 sitting days.

By the end of the year, we will be a fully independent and sovereign country: this means that there will be no alignment with EU law and no jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.