2.4.2 – The aims, role and impact of the EU on the UK government
During the 2024 General Election campaign Keir Starmer made no secret of his desire for a closer relationship with the European Union. Indeed, the 2024 Labour Manifesto stated: We will be confident in our status outside of the EU, but a leading nation in Europe once again, with an improved and ambitious relationship with our European partners.’
Since coming to office, the Labour Government has reached a number of agreements with the UK, including one on greater cooperation on trade, energy, security, and migration in October 2024; a ‘reset deal’ to reduce border checks on food and agricultural goods in May 2025; and an agreement on the principles for a Youth Mobility Scheme in late 2025.
Yet, last week, it appeared that the Labour Government have gone a step further. The Labour Government is currently negotiating regulatory alignment with the EU on a number of issues, including food and drink standards. The greater regulatory alignment is, the more frictionless trade will be between the UK and the EU. In essence, this means Britain accepting the rules of the single market in these areas, which is inherently controversial. The Single Market is an arrangement where most goods, services, money and people can move freely between member states as if they were a single domestic market.
When the UK left the EU in January 2020, it left the auspices of EU institutions, including the Single Market. Critics of the government are now arguing that Britain is trying to rejoin the Single Market ‘via the backdoor’. They argue that the government’s plans would mean accepting EU rules and regulations, without any say on what they are.
Further to the issue itself, the government is facing scrutiny in how it may plan to bring these changes into actuality. There will be a vote in Parliament on the general issue, with a bill passing through both Houses of Parliament. This is what is known as primary legislation. However, the government have suggested that further changes could be made via secondary legislation. This is legislation that is passed primarily by government ministers, having previously been authorised by a piece of primary legislation.
In recent years, the power of secondary legislation has grown in the UK. In the calendar year of 2024, there were 25 Acts of Parliament (primary legislation). In the same period, there were 1,344 Statutory Instruments – the main source of secondary legislation. Governments have also been criticised for producing skeletal primary legislation – legislation without much substance – and then defining the key issues through secondary legislation. Research by the LSE has found that the average number of skeleton bills introduced per year at Westminster from 1991-2015 was 0.7, but this tripled to 2.1 in the 2016-2023 period. Notably, secondary legislation grew during COVID-19, when 425 pieces of Secondary Legislation were laid before Parliament under the Coronavirus Act 2020 and Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984. Whilst the Opposition find this frustrating now, it was a mechanism they were keen to use whilst in government.