Queen’s speech...

Britain’s path to hard Brexit revealed in queen’s speech

Legislative program provides detailed breakdown of how UK wants Brexit to work.

By TOM MCTAGUE AND ANNABELLE DICKSON

A hard Brexit it is then.

U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan for a clean break from the European Union, taking Britain out of both the single market and the customs union, was confirmed Wednesday in a queen’s speech containing eight separate pieces of Brexit legislation which clears the way for Britain’s eventual departure from the bloc in March 2019.

Over a special two-year parliamentary session until summer 2019, covering the period of Britain’s negotiated departure from the EU, the prime minister will aim to pass bills repatriating powers over both trade and customs, ending freedom of movement and ensuring Britain can strike its own free-trade deals outside the EU.

The government will also seek to pass legislation on agriculture and fisheries — both of which will be overseen by the new Environment Secretary Michael Gove, one of the leading Brexiteers — and push ahead with a “Repeal Bill,” which downloads EU law onto the U.K. statute book, ensuring there isn’t a regulatory cliff edge when Britain leaves.

The ambition, set out in a speech written by the government but delivered by Queen Elizabeth, provides official confirmation that the U.K. intends to stick to the prime minister’s vision of Brexit, as set out in her Lancaster House speech in January, despite the Conservative Party’s failure to win an overall majority in the general election earlier this month.

Should the government win majority support for its program in a vote expected next week it will also introduce a “nuclear safeguards bill” and an “international sanctions bill.”

The program, which has to be passed in just two years without a majority government to enforce it, is the most detailed breakdown of how Brexit will be enacted in practice.

Several pledges in the Conservative manifesto were omitted from the queen’s speech, in particular the expansion of grammar schools and a free vote on bringing back fox hunting, both of which proved controversial during the election campaign. Social care plans, which would have seen assets worth over £100,000 used to pay for social care after people die and were credited as one of the key reasons May lost her majority, were replaced with a promise to “bring forward proposals for consultation.”

Prince Philip was due to accompany the queen but missed the ceremony after he was admitted to hospital as a “precautionary measure” for treatment of an infection arising from a pre-existing condition, Buckingham Palace said. Prince Charles accompanied his mother instead.

Here are the eight Brexit bills:

1. Repeal bill

Perhaps more accurately described as the great copy-and-paste bill.

The bill aims to repeal the 1972 European Communities Act, which is the basis of Britain’s membership of the EU, but it also seeks to convert all existing EU law into British law, ensuring “a smooth and orderly transition.”

Controversially, the bill creates “temporary powers” for parliament to amend EU law without a vote under so-called Henry VIII powers, which critics insist is a government power grab. Downing Street insists it is necessary to tweak the wording of legislation to make it suitable for U.K. domestic law and will not be used to alter the meaning.

2. Customs bill

Whether Britain remains temporarily in the customs union after Brexit remains a contentious issue in government.

Chancellor Philip Hammond is on record with his support for an extended “implementation period” before leaving the customs union entirely.

According to a briefing note published alongside the queen’s speech Wednesday, however, the government will “ensure the U.K. has a standalone U.K. customs regime on exit.”

This will give the government flexibility, the document says, to “accommodate” future trade agreements with the EU and other countries.

It will also give the government power to make changes to VAT and excise regimes.

The bill does not rule out a compromise transition arrangement but it sets the course for an eventual hard Brexit.

3. Trade bill

This is the clearest evidence yet that the prime minister still intends to withdraw the U.K. from the single market and customs union.

“The bill will put in place the essential and necessary legislative framework to allow the U.K. to operate its own independent trade policy upon exit from the European Union.”

This is simply not possible within the customs union.

4. Immigration bill

New legislation will be introduced to “control the number of people coming here from Europe.”

It will allow for the repeal of EU law on immigration, “primarily free movement,” which otherwise would become part of U.K. law under the repeal bill.

While there is almost no detail on the nature of the new immigration regime the government hopes to establish after Brexit, the queen’s speech states that it will “make the migration of EU nationals and their family members subject to relevant U.K. law once the U.K. has left the EU.”

This statement of intent effectively means EU nationals will no longer have the automatic right to live and work in the U.K. under EU law — any right to move to Britain will be subject to the U.K. immigration rules set in Westminster.

The wording does not rule out a liberal immigration regime being introduced — such as a visa waiver area covering all of the EU, meaning any EU citizen could move to the U.K. with a job offer. But it does end the concept of freedom of movement, guaranteed by EU law and enforced by the European Court of Justice.

5. Fisheries bill

Like the immigration bill, the purpose of the bill is radical but leaves plenty of scope for flexibility when it comes to how any new regime will actually work.

In short, the bill withdraws Britain from the Common Fisheries Policy. According to a government briefing document published alongside the queen’s speech, it will “enable the U.K. to exercise responsibility for access to fisheries and management of its waters.” It will also allow the government to set U.K. fishing quotas separate from the EU.

How much access the U.K. agrees to give EU fishing fleets remains open for negotiation and compromise.

The fisheries bill — alongside all the Brexit legislation — will apply U.K-wide and is seen in government as an important tool for winning support in Scotland.

6. Agriculture bill

Almost no details are given on the future shape of U.K. agricultural policy. However, the briefing note accompanying the queen’s speech promises that the government will “provide stability” to British farmers currently in receipt of EU subsidies while also aiming to make the sector “more competitive, productive and profitable.”

7. Nuclear safeguards bill

This bill confirms Britain will leave Euratom when it departs the European Union.

The proposed legislation aims to give the U.K. Office for Nuclear Regulation the safeguarding powers to meet international standards.

8. International sanctions bill

The purpose of the bill is to “enable the U.K. to continue to impose, update and lift sanctions” after Brexit.

The effect of this will be to “return decision-making powers” over non-United Nations sanctions, which are currently administered by Brussels, to Westminster.