Lords EU regulations: 16 October

A statutory instrument (SI), a type of secondary legislation, is a law created under powers given by an Act of Parliament. It is used to fill in the details of Acts (primary legislation).

The proposed SIs make changes to laws on:

1. Food hygiene
2. Agriculture
3. Import and export licences
4. Environment and wildlife
5. Pesticides
6. Financial Services

These SIs were considered in Grand Committee, a room outside the Lords chamber. In Grand Committee, any member can take part but no votes can take place.

• Catch up on Parliament TV
• Read the Lords Hansard transcript
• Statutory instruments tracker (beta)
• What is a statutory instrument?
• Statutory instruments procedure in the House of Lords

The Brexit SIs under examination on Wednesday 16 October are all made under the EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018 and are changes to the law to be made in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

• Full list of SIs being examined

All these SIs were made under the draft affirmative procedure, meaning they need to be approved by both Houses of Parliament before they can be made (signed into law) and brought into effect as law. Draft affirmative SIs can be stopped if either House votes against the government's motion calling for the SI to be approved.

Following the debates in Grand Committee, all the SIs under consideration were approved.

Lords scrutiny

The House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee (SLSC) examines every SI, including all EU Exit SIs. It publishes reports drawing members' attention to SIs.

• SLSC 59th Report of Session 2017-19 (PDF) (file 2KB)  (Pesticides)
• SLSC 61st Report of Session 2017-19 (PDF)  (Financial services)

Further information

• Attend debates in the chamber
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• Connect with Lords on the Lords Digital Chamber

Image: Creative Commons