Legislating for the UK's withdrawal from the EU - the Government's White Paper on the Great Repeal Bill

On 30 March 2017 the UK Government published its White Paper on the Great Repeal Bill: Legislating for the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union.

The principal purpose of the Great Repeal Bill will be to repeal the European Communities Act 1972 (the "ECA"), which gives effect and priority to EU law in the UK – thereby formally reasserting the sovereignty and independence of domestic law from the EU.  The Bill will also (a) preserve, and convert into domestic law, the whole body of EU law applying to the UK at the time it leaves the EU (to the extent it has not already been implemented domestically); and (b) create powers for the Government to make secondary legislation in order to adjust EU-derived law that would otherwise no longer operate appropriately once the UK has left the EU.

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