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EU laws that may face the Great Repeal Bill axe

From the workplace to fish via vacuum cleaners, EU rules and regulations influence many aspects of UK life.

By Russell Hope, News Reporter

Friday 31 March 2017 21:30, UK

Buyers inspect boxes of fresh fish in Grimsby Fish Market
Image: Boris Johnson described quotas imposed by the Common Fisheries Policy as "crazy"
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The Great Repeal Bill could see several of the best-known, and a few of the more obscure, EU rules and regulations scrapped.

BIDEFORD, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 19: New houses are constructed on a residential housing development in Bideford on February 19, 2015 in Devon, England. The issues affecting the housing market, along with National Health Service and the economy are likely to be key elections issues in the forthcoming general election in May. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
Image: New houses being built in Devon

:: Free movement of labour

A symbol of all that is wrong with the European Union for Brexiteers, but sceptics doubt whether ditching it will give ministers the absolute control of immigration they crave.

It could be replaced with an Australian-style points system under which all migrants would be subject to the same rules, and could be selectively refused entry.

Burnt toast
Image: The EU sets rules on how some goods use electricity

:: Toasters, kettles and vacuum cleaners

European Commission rules, introduced in 2013, demand vacuum cleaners make efficient use of electricity and the EU is threatening to extend those rules to kettles, hair dryers, toasters and other household items.

Once out of the EU, Parliament can decide whether the British should once again be able to buy inefficient electrical goods.

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A gas hob is seen in this photo illustration taken in London December 2, 2013.
Image: A gas hob

:: VAT on energy bills

All that inefficient use of power will mean higher bills, so many Britons, especially those on lower incomes, will be glad the UK government will be able to remove VAT from gas and electricity bills, but environmental campaigners may object that it is not green.

Will the Government scrap the tampon tax?
Image: The so-called 'tampon tax' was a source of controversy
:: The tampon tax

Remember the long argument about VAT on sanitary goods, dubbed the tampon tax? David Cameron and George Osborne wanted to scrap the levy but EU regulations meant they could only drop it to 5%.

It is supposed to go completely in 2018 because of new a change in position by the Brussels, but once out of the bloc the Treasury will be able to set its own rules on the good and services that VAT will be applied to and at what rate.

Commuters headinto the City of London across London Bridge
Image: Commuters head into the City of London across London Bridge

:: Working Time Directive

A big one this, as under EU law, it is illegal to make an employee work for an average of more than 48 hours a week.
Employers may put pressure on ministers to pull out of this, as it is estimated to cost them £4bn a year.

Future funding for the fishing industry is among the areas threatened
Image: Will the fishing industry thrive after Brexit?

:: Fishing

Another law that Leave campaigners can not wait to ditch. Boris Johnson described the quotas imposed by the Common Fisheries Policy as "crazy". So, Brexit may turn out to be good news for the British fishing fleets, but others are sure to complain.

Job centre
Image: Job centre

:: Temporary Agency Workers Directive

This guarantees anyone hired via employment agencies gets the same pay and conditions as employees in the same business doing the same work and is thought to cost employers half as much as the working time directive.

Abolishing it could be unpopular politically, however, as free marketeers the UK will not want more interference in the economy.

An iceberg is pictured in the western Antarctic peninsula, on March 02, 2016. Like seals and whales, penguins eat krill, an inch-long shrimp-like crustacean that forms the basis of the Southern Ocean food chain. But penguin-watchers say the krill are getting scarcer in the western Antarctic peninsula, under threat from climate change and fishing. AFP PHOTO/EITAN ABRAMOVICH / AFP / EITAN ABRAMOVICH (Photo credit should read EITAN ABRAMOVICH/AFP/Getty Images)
Image: An iceberg in the western Antarctic peninsula, pictured in March 2016

:: Renewables Directive

Reckoned by some to be the single most expensive piece of Brussels-imposed legislation, it sets targets for combating climate change, such as achieving a 20% share of energy from renewable sources by 2020, at a reputed cost of £4.7bn a year. Brexiteers tend to be sceptical about climate change, so may see this as a useful way to save money.

Bananas on sale in a Morrisons supermarket
Image: Bananas on sale in a supermarket

:: Going bananas

At the other end of the seriousness scale are EU rules on wonky bananas. They are not banned, but they are classified by quality and shape. Class 1 bananas can have "slight defects of shape" and Class 2 bananas full-on "defects of shape".

Myths about the regulations became a lightning rod for all who despair at the pointlessness of Brussels and its ideas.

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