Taking action on the Retained EU Law Bill

What is the Retained EU Law Bill?

The UK Government’s Retained EU Law (REUL) Bill threatens all the laws that we kept after our EU membership ended. These laws protect not only citizens, consumers, workers, and businesses, but also the environment – the areas we protect for nature, the quality of our waters and air, all depend on these Retained EU Laws. Yet in its current form the Bill gives Government Ministers the power to revoke, amend or retain these laws, without consulting Parliament. We have gathered more useful information on the Bill into this handy explainer page.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak must confirm that the REUL Bill will not scrap vital protections. The RSPB and our partners have been working hard on securing this promise. We’ve met and briefed MPs, Ministers, and Peers. And we’ve helped raise public awareness via the media and social media, and through updates to members and supporters. Most recently we:

• sent an ad van to drive around Westminster to alert politicians and the public to the potential impact of the Bill. Whilst it was driving around, we asked the public how they feel about nature protection in the UK. Find out what they said here.
• joined WWF and Client Earth to ask one of the UK’s leading lawyers to give a Legal Opinion on the likely constitutional, legal, and practical effects of the Bill. They concluded that the Bill threatens vast swathes of protections and, if passed, would violate fundamental principles of the UK’s democracy. Find out more in Beccy Speight’s blog here.

The Bill is about to return to the House of Commons for the final time. This means that it is MPs’ last chance to act on the Bill and our last chance to push them to do so.

How can you help?

Throughout April and May the RSPB will be committed to helping enthusiastic supporters like you to take action.

As well as comprehensive online resources that will help you email your MP, or attend one of their surgeries and talk to them, we are offering to help some of you take the extra step of hosting a face-to-face conversation between your community and your MP in advance of their vote in this final phase of the Bill.

This could involve anything from hosting a group in your home (like a Macmillan Coffee Morning), to putting on an event in a community centre, or even on a nature reserve so the local community and MP can come together in nature.

As part of this opportunity the RSPB will provide comprehensive resources to equip you to have conversations with MPs, all the background information you need to speak with confidence on the risks the REUL Bill poses for the environment in your area, plus the opportunity to speak one-to-one to experienced RSPB staff for advice on how to make these meetings happen.

We’re only a small team so we won’t be able to support any more than five people who want to organise a community meeting and we will be offering this support on a first-come-first-served basis. If you are interested and would like more information, please send us an email at campaigns@rspb.org.uk.

In other exciting news, we have also joined forces with The Wildlife Trusts and Friends of the Earth to run a webinar in the evening of Tuesday 2 May all about the REUL Bill and how it must be changed – so you can feel assured you will be well prepared however you want to take action. This webinar is open to everyone, whether you want to organise a community meeting with your MP or not. Register to attend this webinar today - use the eventbrite form here!