Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what plans the Government has to include provision in the planned Great Repeal Bill to transpose the EU precautionary principle into UK law.

The precautionary principle has had an important influence on the drafting of EU environmental legislation, which will be incorporated into domestic law through the Great Repeal Bill. The Great Repeal Bill will ensure that the whole body of existing EU environmental legislation continues to have effect in UK law.

As set out in the white paper, Great Repeal Bill will ensure that, wherever practical and appropriate, the same rules and laws apply on the day after we leave the EU as they did before. This means that the Bill will convert directly-applicable EU law into UK law; it will preserve all the laws we have made in the UK to implement our EU obligations, as well as the rights in the EU treaties that can be relied on directly in court by an individual.

This legislation is the first step in the Prime Minister’s Plan for Britain. It will allow for a smooth and orderly exit and provide a functioning statute book at the point we leave the EU.