THE Commons Speaker slammed a Tory minister after she revealed details of a major policy change in the media without properly informing MPs.
Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch was upbraided by a furious Lindsay Hoyle in Westminster on Thursday morning after quietly announcing a substantial change to the Government’s proposed bonfire of EU law – while revealing further details in the Daily Telegraph on Wednesday.
The Speaker invited Badenoch to say sorry – only to interrupt as she began to give what appeared to be a non-apology.
Hoyle said: “Before we begin the urgent question, I note that it is highly regrettable that the Government decided not to offer an oral statement on this matter yesterday, given the importance of this announcement.
"On such matters, full engagement with this parliament and its committees is essential.
"Who do you think you're speaking to?... I am not going to be spoken to by a Secretary of State who is absolutely not accepting my ruling" Sir Lindsay Hoyle rebukes Kemi Badenoch over announcing changes to Retained EU Law Bill to the mediahttps://t.co/b9xf9ay3IM pic.twitter.com/8MJUDWUB3Q
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) May 11, 2023
"Before I call the chair, I will remind the Government we are elected to hear it first. Not to read it in The Telegraph and certainly not a [written ministerial statement] is satisfactory on such an important matter.”
Badenoch said: “I am very sorry that the sequencing that we chose was not to your satisfaction …”
Interrupting, the Speaker said: “That is totally not acceptable. Who do you think you’re speaking to Secretary of State?
"I don’t want … I think we need to understand each other. I am the defender of this house and these benches on both sides. I am not going to be spoken to by a Secretary of State who is absolutely not accepting my ruling.
"Take it with good grace and accept it that members should hear it first, not a [written ministerial statement], or what you decide. These members have been elected by their constituents and they have the right to hear it first and it is time this Government recognised we’re all elected, we’re all members of parliament and use the correct manners.”
She replied: “Mr Speaker, I apologise. What I was trying to say was that I was very sorry that I did not meet the standards which you expect of secretaries of state, forgive my language.”
The row centered around changes to the Government’s push to scrap swathes of European legislation ministers kept in UK law to avoid chaos after Brexit.
The Tories are under pressure from Eurosceptics to get rid of the laws with its proposed Retained EU Law (REUL) Bill.
But in a written statement – which technically informs the Commons while ducking any debate among MPs – Badenoch confirmed the plans would be watered down.
She said the move would allow the Government to reform retained EU law, not scrap it altogether – something which has infuriated Brexiteer MPs.
Writing in The Telegraph on Wednesday, Badenoch added: “As the bill is currently drafted, almost all REUL is automatically revoked at the end of 2023, unless a statutory instrument is passed to preserve it.
“When I was handed responsibility for this bill I saw that, confronted with the default position of retained EU law sunsetting at the end of this year, Whitehall departments had focused on which laws should be preserved ahead of the deadline, rather than pursuing the meaningful reform Government and businesses want to see.
“I decided a new approach was needed; one that will ensure ministers and officials are freed up to focus on more reform of REUL, and to do it faster.”
Responding in a Telegraph news story about the development, the former Brexit secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg declared the change a victory for the “blob” – a derisive term coined by Dominic Cummings to refer to the civil service.
