UK Ditches Promised End-of-Year ‘Bonfire’ of Remaining EU Laws

The Union Flag and a European Union flag fly in Parliament Square, in central London, on Sept. 9, 2017. Tolga Akmen/Reuters

The UK government has ditched its promise to complete a post-Brexit “bonfire” of remaining EU laws by the end of the year.

Under the government’s draft Retained EU Law Bill, almost all EU laws copied into the UK statute book following Brexit would be automatically revoked at the end of 2023, unless a statutory instrument is passed to preserve it.