Climate change protestors outside Derry’s Guildhall in 2019
The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill Second Stage was debated this week at Westminster and would remove the majority of EU-derived law kept post-Brexit.
If successful EU protections could be removed by the end of 2023.
Mr Durkan said the potential repercussions of this bill for the environment as well as workers’ rights, would be devastating.
Said the Foyle MLA: “The Retained EU Law Bill represents a regressive and indeed dangerous piece of legislation which runs this risk of creating huge gaps in environmental protections and the rights of workers.
“Myself and indeed many others had warned of the massive implications Brexit would have on our communities, not least the huge risk it posed to the natural environment.
“Pushing through this haphazard piece of work, in essence, will lead to the ripping up of hard won environmental protections and threatens the Climate Action Plan.
“Progress has been made in this area in recent years and the proposals under this Bill will derail those efforts.
“The implications are far reaching and will remove vital safeguards relating to public health, including the quality of our air and water.
“The move is completely unwarranted and will hit harder in Northern Ireland given the continued absence of a functioning Executive.
“These plans lack substance or clarity on how it will impact devolved governments.
“What we do know is this Bill will strip away hundreds of environmental standards and protections which will need to be replaced by ministers or will fall away completely.
“This process not only creates a huge burden on civil servants but will cost taxpayers millions while putting climate action in jeopardy.
“Put simply this legislative proposal is undemocratic.
“We owe to future generations to fight back against climate change and this ludicrous Bill,” added Mr Durkan.
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