The U.S. was the first major version of the EU: a union among 13 sovereign states for trade and coordination of foreign policy.
I'd say the UK was the first version of the EU. And the UK is the world's most successful political union, not the US.
Brexit: UK to set out plans to replace all EU laws
BBC News
30 March 2017
Thousands of EU laws on everything from workers' rights to the environment are to be scrapped or replaced with UK equivalents in a new plan.
Details of the planned Great Repeal Bill are to be published shortly - the day after the UK officially began the two year process of leaving the EU.
Ministers need to "copy and paste" EU laws into UK law to avoid a legal "black hole" when Brexit happens.
It comes as ministers reject claims of a row with the EU over future security.
In her letter on Wednesday triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, Mrs May suggested cooperation with the EU on the fight against crime and terror was at risk if Britain did not agree an overall Brexit deal within the two year time limit.
The prime minister's words sparked an angry reaction from some EU officials who said security was too important to be used as a bargaining chip in trade negotiations.
But Brexit Secretary David Davis told BBC Radio 4's Today programme "this is not a threat".
"This is a statement of the fact that this will be harmful for both of us... if we don't get a deal. It's an argument for having a deal."
He added: "We're after a fully comprehensive deal that covers trade, covers security, covers all the aspects of our existing relationship and tries to preserve as much of the benefits for everybody as we can."
Mr Davis, who will be Britain's chief negotiator in Brussels, said the rights of British expats would be the first priority in Brexit talks.
He said Britain had a "moral duty" to end the uncertainty facing Britons living in the EU - and EU citizens living in the UK - as it was not their fault that Britain had voted to leave.
The UK also wanted "to deal with the Northern Ireland border situation early as well", he added.
'A unique challenge'
The Great Repeal Bill, which Theresa May has said will make the UK an "independent, sovereign nation", would:
- Repeal the European Communities Act, which says EU law is supreme to the UK's
- Ensure the UK leaves the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice
- Transpose existing EU legislation into domestic UK law
- It would come into force the day the UK leaves the EU
- The Commons library anticipates it will be "one of the largest legislative projects ever undertaken in the UK"
- A Lords committee described it as a "unique challenge", with EU law having accumulated over decades
Read more: A guide to the Great Repeal Bill
He said the "fear" that the EU would punish Britain for leaving, in order to deter other countries from going down the same route, "has reduced", although it had not disappeared altogether.
But he admitted that Britain was in dispute with EU officials over its demand for parallel talks on the terms of Britain's exit and a deal on trade.
Pro-Brexit campaigners celebrated after Article 50 was invoked
The EU wants to sort out an exit deal - including how much the UK might have to pay to cover its "existing obligations" - before turning to a future trade arrangement but Mr Davis said Britain wanted to "look at the whole package together".
The government is to set out its plans to move all EU laws into UK law in a white paper set to be published at about 11:15 BST.
Over the past 44 years, thousands of rules and directives have been incorporated into British law from Brussels.
Under the Great Repeal Bill, the UK Parliament would be able to "amend, repeal and improve" the laws as necessary, the government says.
However, it could prove controversial with plans to give ministers the power to make changes to some laws without full Parliamentary scrutiny.
The government says this will only be for "mechanical changes" to ensure laws function properly and has promised a "smooth and stable transition".
Mr Davis said: "At the heart of the referendum decision was sovereignty. A strong, independent country needs control of its own laws.
That process starts now.
"Converting EU law into UK law, and ending the supremacy of lawmakers in Brussels, is an important step in giving businesses, workers and consumers the certainty they need."
Theresa May signing the letter which yesterday triggered Article 50, watched over by first British Prime Minister Robert Walpole
Trade union group the TUC urged the government to ensure the repeal bill was used to maintain all existing EU workers' protections.
Labour's Jeremy Corbyn said his party would be holding the government to account "all the way through" the exit process, promising to "speak for the entire country".
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson admitted to public "apprehension" over the outcome of a deal, but said Mrs May was "wise" to wait until now to set out her negotiating position.
He wrote in the
Daily Telegraph on Thursday that Britain would continue to be "one of the indispensable guarantors of peace and stability" in Europe.
The EU's formal negotiating position will be agreed only at a summit of the remaining 27 member states at the end of April, meaning face-to-face discussions are unlikely until May or early June.
Brexit: UK to set out plans to replace all EU laws - BBC News
