The Observer view on Brexit: Tories are paying the price for their dishonesty

theguardian.com:

Brexit was sold to voters seven years ago on the basis it would be the answer to myriad problems. It would address Britain’s laggardly growth by putting rocket boosters under the economy. It would free up money to spend on an underfunded NHS. It would boost wages in low-paid jobs by reducing immigration levels. And it would reinvigorate our parliamentary democracy by returning sovereignty to Westminster.

None of this was ever going to materialise and recent years have only served to underline just how false these promises were. Last week, the government finally put to bed the idea it is feasible to scrap thousands of retained EU regulations in one swoop when Kemi Badenoch junked the profoundly undemocratic sunset clause in the retained EU law bill.

This bill was introduced by Jacob Rees-Mogg during Liz Truss’s premiership. It would have automatically revoked all EU regulations that were converted into domestic law at the end of the Brexit transition period at the end of this year, save those specifically exempted by ministers.

It is a totally unworkable piece of legislation. The government has not even been able to produce a comprehensive list of regulations that it covers; even the total number of 4,000 it is assumed it would apply to is just an estimate. The time allowed by the government – just a few months – to review and recodify huge swathes of domestic legislation, covering areas as diverse as employment rights, consumer protections and the environment, was completely unrealistic. The bill also gives huge discretionary powers to ministers to make changes to the law without any parliamentary oversight or consultation with the businesses, organisations and people whose lives could be deeply affected by them. The