Most Brexit bills are caught up in a slow legislative grind

IN BRITAIN, a mass of data about Parliament’s performance is in this week’s first annual Parliamentary Monitor from the Institute for Government (IfG), a think-tank. The most striking relate to the government’s planned 12 Brexit bills. So far only four have passed, including the EU withdrawal act, which took 273 hours of debate. Although Brexit is due next March, sensitive bills on agriculture, fisheries and migration have not even been introduced. The IfG report blames slow progress on cabinet disputes and on the government’s lack of a clear majority in either chamber.

Brexit also requires some 800 new statutory instruments. The report says the scrutiny of this secondary legislation is unsatisfactory. Even when an instrument is considered by a special committee, the average time that it is given is just 18 minutes. One in eight of all inquiries by parliamentary select committees are also now Brexit-related. And all this is before Parliament gets a “meaningful” vote on any Brexit deal, which may be even harder to win.