'Farewell Constitutional monstrosity!' Brexiteer hails end of EU law in Britain
BREXIT will enable the United Kingdom to put an end to the European Union's influence on British laws, former shadow chancellor Peter Lilley said.
Lilley: We're repealing 'constitutional monstrosity' of EU law
Mr Lilley said Brexit will allow Britain to repeal the "most appalling" power grab of all, putting an end to European Union law's effects on the British legal system.
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, the former Tory MP said: "The Bill itself is getting rid of the most appalling power grab there was before which was the ability to impose laws on the British people through the original act – which we are now repealing – without any vote of Parliament.
"If Parliament had voted 100 per cent against the European law coming in under the European Communities Act, it still became the law of the land. So we’re repealing what is a constitutional monstrosity. It’s important we do it the right way."
A seasoned Eurosceptic, Mr Lilley first represented the St Albans constituency before serving as MP for Hitchin and Harpenden until his retirement from Parliament in 2017.
He was also a member of the Exiting the European Union Committee in the House of Commons since its creation after the EU Referendum.
Despite the end of his parliamentary career, Mr Lilley has remained a vocal supporter of Brexit and the EU Withdrawal Bill.
He continued: "There are people on both sides of the European debate who are worried that the actual processes of making technical amendments to some of the laws – to make them sort of work once we have adopted them in our own statute book – give too much power to the executive and not enough power to Parliament.
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"I think the Government is looking for ways to accommodate those concerns because the whole purpose of leaving is to give Parliament control over our laws and it’s important it has control over the laws in the process of leaving, too."
MPs previously accused the British Government of trying to us the EU Withdrawal Bill as a mean to limit their decisional role once Brexit become official and all powers currently devolved to Brussels are returned to Westminster.
Mr Lilley denied the claims, saying Theresa May and her ministers would ultimately ensure Parliament regains full control of British laws.
He added: "There may be some sensible compromises that can be made allowing some parliamentary committee to decide if any amendment made to existing EU laws are purely technical – in which case they can go through without much worry about a speedy process – or if they potentially change the sense of the law in which case the Parliament should discuss properly and have the chance to alter or reject any such changes."
It comes as a series of slim-majority victories in Parliament allowed the Government to quell a rebellion threatening Mrs May's Brexit plans.