GovWire

Thank you very much for inviting me here today, and thank you to the National Consumer Federation for hosting a conference specifically on our withdrawal from the European Union.

I should start by saying that I have a strong personal attachment to consumer rights and consumer protection. My father used to boast that he was one of the early members of the Consumer Association; and much to mothers consternation, he kept almost every copy of Which? to prove it.

Of course, much has changed in the world since the late 1950s and 1960s. For example, if we were not here to discuss our relationship with Europe, I suspect we would be discussing something else equally profound and thats the impact on consumers and businesses.

Before I joined the Government, I saw first-hand what this has meant for consumers and businesses, working both for a large retailer and, more recently, a retail bank. Social media, the power to shop whenever you like, wherever you are, gives consumers information, influence and a voice like never before. All of which is, in my mind, a very good thing.

And now, against that backdrop of seismic change, we are contending with another change; our withdrawal from the European Union.

Consumer groups concerns

Looking at the agenda for todays event, I know some of the issues that are concerning you. Id like to thank you for having raised them with us.

We all agree that a key part of securing choice and affordability for consumers is promoting competitive markets. The UKs competition regime is rightly considered one of the worlds best. Robust enforcement of that regime by the independent Competition and Markets Authority will continue after we exit the EU.

A number of you have also told us how important it will be for consumer voices to be heard, and their interests understood from the outset.

I, and my fellow ministers across Government, read with interest the letter from Which?, Money Saving Expert, and the Citizens Advice Bureau. And, with our colleagues in BEIS, we are certainly looking forward to further engagement, following the Brexit roundtable which many of you attended in December.

This ongoing dialogue will be crucial because of the importance of the points youve raised, namely ensuring consumer rights are maintained; and that we continue high standards of product safety and our robust system of consumer enforcement.

So let me try to address some of these issues, but before I do that, Ill start by setting out the Governments approach overall.

A unique partnership

Amidst all the noise and speculation about the negotiations, Id like everyone to remember two simple things.

First, we want to do a deal with the European Union. We believe a deal is in our nations interests, and in Europes interests. As has been said before, we may be leaving the EU, but we are not leaving Europe. Its prosperity and security has been interwoven with ours for centuries: thats not going to change.

As the Prime Minister has said, what we are looking for is a new, deep and special partnership. A partnership that spans both trade in goods and services and wider links covering security, for example.

And unlike other nations that have negotiated trade deals with the EU, we find ourselves in a unique position. We have been a member of the EU for over 40 years.

Most of our regulations and standards, and many of our laws, are completely aligned with the European Union. All of this gives us a very firm bedrock on which to build this new partnership a partnership that we will negotiate very mindful of the benefits and the protections that consumers in the UK currently enjoy.

The Great Repeal Bill

Obviously EU laws and regulations are interwoven with many of these protections and rights. So the first. and critical, thing to say is that we are going to convert EU law, as it applies in the UK, into our domestic law on the day we leave.

This will mean that, wherever practical and sensible, the same laws and rules will apply immediately before and immediately after our departure.

Furthermore, the case law of the rulings of the European Court of Justice, as it stands on the day we leave, will be taken into account by British courts. That also ensures certainty and protects rights.

For consumers, and thats all of us, this means that the rights and protections that are derived from EU regulations and directives; ranging from food labelling to unfair contract terms, will continue.

To do this, we will be passing the Great Repeal Bill. This Bill will repeal the European Communities Act, convert EU law into UK law and give the Government the power to correct any legal anomalies, so our statute book functions properly from the day we leave.

Now I know that some people are saying that we should tear up some of the regulations as we leave the EU. Well, were not going to do that, for a number of reasons.

First, the vote to leave was a vote to leave, period. Leaving means ensuring that Parliamentary sovereignty is unquestioned, and putting Parliament, and where appropriate, the devolved legislatures, in control.

Once that has happened, it will be up to elected representatives in those institutions to decide what to do. Thats for another day. Weve enough to do in the meantime.

And the second reason we have taken this approach is certainty. Change is always unsettling, and the more we can do to lessen that uncertainty the better. Thats the case for businesses, and for consumers.

To that end, we have made it clear in last weeks White Paper that the power to enable corrections to EU law will be limited. It is not a vehicle for policy changes, but it will give the Government the necessary power to correct or remove the laws that would otherwise not function properly once we have left the EU.

And the third reason for this approach is that, on the day we leave, it will be beyond doubt that our standards and regulations are the same as in the EU.

Standards

And that brings me onto the issue of standards. For the question is, even if our regulatory system is completely aligned with the EUs on the day we leave, what happens then?

Again, let me take a step back. Our aim is for the UK and the EU to continue to trade freely and without friction. While much of the debate often focuses on tariffs, what matters as much to businesses and obviously consumers, are non-tariff barriers, especially on issues such as standards.

As I am sure you will know, standards are written by various bodies. There are international bodies, such as UN-ECE, setting standards for cars. There are also independent European bodies, such as CEN, CENELEC and ETSI.

And there are British bodies, such as the British Standards Institution, which provides a UK voice into those European bodies and adopts common standards. When companies abide by European standards, therefore, these are often, but not always, standards developed by non-EU bodies .

Theyre also created increasingly at the global level, through bodies like ISO, IEC and ITU. British industry and the BSI will continue to play a leading role in the international standards organisations, and we encourage British consumer groups to continue to make their voice heard in these organisations after we exit.

I am delighted with the work we are doing with BSI to ensure that our future relationship with the European Standards Organisations continues to support a productive, open and competitive business environment in the UK.

When we leave the EU, it is clear that, as the Prime Minister wrote in her letter to Donald Tusk last week, we will lose influence over the rules that affect the European economy. What is also clear is that we will need to agree with the EU a means by which we, and the EU, manage the evolution of our regulatory frameworks to enable trade.

Whilst the Prime Minister has been clear that we are seeking a deep and special partnership with the EU, we are examining examples of regulatory mechanisms in recent trade agreements so we can best unders

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