European Union (Withdrawal) Bill — New Clause 63 — Environmental Standards and Protections: Enforcement — 12 Dec 2017 at 21:00

The majority of MPs voted against setting up regulatory arrangements to maintain environmental standards and protections following the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union.

MPs were considering the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill[1].

The proposed new clause rejected in this vote was titled Environmental standards and protections: enforcement and stating:

  • (1) Before exit day a Minister of the Crown must make provision that all powers and functions relating to environmental standards and protections that were exercisable by EU entities or other public authorities anywhere in the United Kingdom before exit day and which do not cease to have effect as a result of the withdrawal agreement (“relevant powers and functions”) will be carried out by an appropriate existing or newly established entity or public authority in the United Kingdom.
  • (2) For the purposes of this section, relevant powers and functions include, but are not limited to—
  • (a) reviewing and reporting on the implementation of environmental standards in practice,
  • (b) monitoring and measuring compliance with legal requirements,
  • (c) publicising information including regarding compliance with environmental standards,
  • (d) facilitating the submission of complaints from persons with regard to possible infringements of legal requirements, and
  • (e) enforcing legal commitments.
  • (3) For the purposes of this section, relevant powers and functions carried out by an appropriate existing or newly established entity or public authority in the United Kingdom on any day after exit day must be at least equivalent to all those exercisable by EU entities or other public authorities anywhere in the United Kingdom before exit day which do not cease to have effect as a result of the withdrawal agreement.
  • (4) Any newly established entity or public authority in the United Kingdom charged with exercising any relevant powers and functions on any day after exit day shall not be established other than by an Act of Parliament.
  • (5) Before making provision under subsection (1), a Minister of the Crown shall hold a public consultation on—
  • (a) the precise scope of the relevant powers and functions to be carried out by an appropriate existing or newly established entity or public authority in the United Kingdom, and
  • (b) the institutional design of any entity or public authority in the United Kingdom to be newly established in order to exercise relevant powers and functions.
  • (6) A Minister of the Crown may by regulations make time-limited transitional arrangements for the exercise of relevant powers and functions until such time as an appropriate existing or newly established entity or public authority in the United Kingdom is able to carry them out.’

This rejected amendment was accompanied by the following explanatory note:

  • This new clause would require the Government to establish new domestic governance arrangements following the UK’s exit from the EU for environmental standards and protections, following consultation.

Debate in Parliament |

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Party Summary

Votes by party, red entries are votes against the majority for that party.

What is Tell? '+1 tell' means that in addition one member of that party was a teller for that division lobby.

What are Boths? An MP can vote both aye and no in the same division. The boths page explains this.

What is Turnout? This is measured against the total membership of the party at the time of the vote.

PartyMajority (No)Minority (Aye)BothTurnout
Con304 (+2 tell) 0096.8%
DUP10 00100.0%
Green0 10100.0%
Independent1 2060.0%
Lab0 242 (+2 tell)094.2%
LDem0 120100.0%
PC0 3075.0%
SNP0 33094.3%
Total:315 293095.3%

Rebel Voters - sorted by party

MPs for which their vote in this division differed from the majority vote of their party. You can see all votes in this division, or every eligible MP who could have voted in this division

Sort by: Name | Constituency | Party | Vote

NameConstituencyPartyVote
no rebellions

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