COLUMN: Key week for Brexit

This bill is really important for the future of the UK, as it asks us to write all of the existing EU law that governs us over in to the UK statute books.

Without this bill we would be left with big holes in our legislation when we leave — a vacuum that would be replicated across all sectors and leave us in, to put it simply, a real mess.

The only way then to avoid that chaos would be to individually rewrite and pass all of these laws through our Parliament, which would take years and cause huge delays to our leaving the EU.

This bill, sometimes known as the Great Repeal Bill, is vital so that we have continuity as we leave the EU, and so that our businesses, banks, judges and everyone else knows that the same law still applies the day after we leave.

Once we have secured that continuity and stability, Parliament will then look in more depth at which of those laws we might like to change or improve to better the UK’s interests.

We start by taking those laws away from EU control and in to our own hands through this bill, and then once we have that control we can make any changes that are needed for the future.

Any minor changes that are needed to make those laws work initially, like changing the wording to reflect that we’re not in the EU anymore for example, would be made with the oversight and scrutiny of MPs in Parliament, and votes where they are needed.

I’ll be giving this bill my full support, because to do anything else would be a vote to delay and frustrate Brexit.

Our leaving, to me, means leaving the Single Market and ending free movement. In order to do that we simply must have a full set of UK laws to work with.

It’s time for those who would still seek to block Brexit to get on board and put the best interest of the country first, to focus on getting us the best Brexit deal.