Regulation After Brexit

On 22 September, Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee published a report on Regulation After Brexit. The report is clear that EU Exit has had a significant impact on UK regulators who have taken on new and expanded roles. But the development of long-term regulatory strategies post-EU Exit has been slow, and the future direction of regulation remains unclear.

Regulators are facing challenges in accessing the skills they need to regulate effectively, including vets to monitor food safety and animal welfare in abattoirs, toxicologists to assess food risks and chemical safety, and lawyers and economists to enforce competition law and protect consumers. And many regulators have also been asked to cut budgets and staff, and lost access to data sharing arrangements with the EU, all making current regulatory models unsustainable. There are risks that regulatory divergence between the EU and UK may make regulation less efficient and more costly for regulators, consumers and businesses, though there are opportunities too.