When the UK left the European Union (EU), some EU laws were preserved in domestic law. These provisions were initially known as “retained EU law”, or REUL. At the beginning of 2024, REUL that remained on the statute book became known as “assimilated law”.
This blog summarises updates published in early 2025 by the UK and Scottish Governments on changes they made to assimilated law during the second half of 2024, and considers the two Governments’ plans for further reform of these EU-derived laws.
Background
The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 (“the REUL Act”) gives UK and Scottish Ministers extensive powers to make changes to assimilated law by secondary legislation – including powers for UK Ministers in devolved areas. Many of these powers are due to expire in June 2026, though Ministers will still have the power to update assimilated law to reflect changes in technology or scientific developments after this date.
Further background information about retained EU law, and about the REUL Act, can be found in SPICe blogs from July 2022 and August 2023 respectively.
The REUL Act created a duty on the UK Government to report, once every six months until June 2026, on its work to revoke and reform assimilated law. Within the UK Government reports, “reform” of assimilated law is implicitly defined as either amending relevant EU-derived law, allowing it to expire, or replacing it with entirely new legislation.
The Act did not place any reporting requirements on Scottish Ministers, but the Scottish Government agreed to update the Scottish Parliament on a biannual basis following publication of the UK Government’s report for the relevant reporting period. Further information about both Governments’ arrangements for reporting on assimilated law reform is set out in a March 2024 SPICe blog.
What do the latest updates say?
The UK Government published its third statutory assimilated law report on 23 January 2025, covering the period between 24 June and 23 December 2024. The Scottish Government subsequently wrote on 7 February 2025 to the Scottish Parliament’s Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture (CEEAC) Committee to provide its own update on devolved assimilated law covering the same period.
UK Government report
The UK Government report notes that a total of 6,901 pieces of assimilated law have now been identified, across approximately 400 policy areas. Of these, a total of 2,395 have been either revoked or reformed, including 40 such changes in the six-month period covered by the report. Overall, the report states that, as of 23 December 2024:
- 4417 pieces of assimilated law are unchanged (approximately 64% of the total number – though the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 provides for the future repeal of 408 pieces of assimilated law currently in this category);
- 1484 have been repealed (22%);
- 806 have been amended (12%);
- 62 have expired (1%);
- 43 have been replaced (less than 1%);
- and the status of 89 pieces of assimilated law (1%) is “to be confirmed”.
The report also sets out the UK Government’s plans to progress assimilated law reform over the next six-month period (until June 2025). These include planned reforms to assimilated law (via secondary legislation) in policy areas such as plant health and biosecurity, regulated food and feed products, clinical trials, procurement, and corporate reporting. It also highlights new primary legislation (like the Product Regulation and Metrology Bill) which would facilitate future changes to assimilated law.
Scottish Government update
In its update to the CEEAC Committee setting out relevant uses of powers under the REUL Act over the reporting period, the Scottish Government noted that it had:
- made two Scottish Statutory Instruments (SSIs) to remove or update terminological references to ‘retained’ EU law in devolved legislation, and
- notified the Scottish Parliament about a further two UK Statutory Instruments (UKSIs) being made by the UK Government under the REUL Act which made provision in devolved policy areas and to which Scottish Ministers proposed to give their consent (one updating references to ‘retained’ EU law, and one relating to regulated food and feed products).
With regard to future changes to assimilated law in devolved areas, the Scottish Government states that its policy “continues to be that there is no intention to revoke or reform assimilated law simply because it is […] retained” from EU membership. It says that it will consider reforms proposed by the UK Government “on a case-by-case basis” and, where these engage devolved competence, work to establish “to what extent they are acceptable in policy terms to the Scottish Government”.
The update also states that the Scottish Government “continues to apply a strong policy presumption against” using the powers it has available under the REUL Act to make SSIs to amend assimilated law. However, as noted above, there have been cases where Scottish Ministers have consented to UK Ministers making UKSIs under REUL Act powers in areas of devolved competence – for example, in the case of a recent set of proposed regulations relating to regulated food and feed products.
Has the UK Government changed its approach to assimilated law reform?
The House of Commons Library has observed that “the Labour Government’s approach to reform of legacy EU laws is different from that of its Conservative predecessor”. For example, “unlike its predecessor, the Labour Government has not set a quantitative target for further repeal and reform of assimilated law”.
The UK Government’s January 2025 report noted that:
The Government is committed to creating a pro-business environment with a regulatory framework that supports innovation, economic growth, investment, and high-quality jobs. We will reform assimilated law, where desirable, to deliver that vision […] We will continue to be guided by this Government’s national missions and wider priorities, including our work to reset UK relations with the devolved governments and the EU.
Precisely what this commitment means in terms of changes in the UK Government’s approach to both the process and content of assimilated law reform, compared to that of its predecessor, still largely remains to be seen. However, in his letter to the CEEAC Committee Convenor accompanying the Scottish Government’s February 2025 update, Angus Robertson MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, welcomed the UK Government’s position, saying:
In my view the tenor of the latest UK report gives a greater confidence than has been in place since the Brexit referendum that the Scottish Parliament’s custodianship over devolved Scots law is understood.
The House of Commons Library has also suggested that the UK Government may be “more willing” than its predecessor to reform assimilated law in order to “align with EU rules where this would reduce divergence and regulatory friction within the UK’s internal market”.
SPICe has published an accompanying blog which examines the relationship between assimilated law reform and alignment with EU law in more detail.
Duncan Sim, SPICe Research