Tory peer urges Boris Johnson to scrap EU regulations

Tory peer and former MEP Daniel Hannan during an EU referendum debate at the University of Reading - Credit: Ben Birchall/PA

A Tory peer recently ennobled by Boris Johnson has urged the prime minister to remove EU consumer and worker protections now that Brexit has happened.

Daniel Hannan has said safeguards on the use of data, workers rights, GM foods, and environmental standards should be scrapped.

“Change is coming. To succeed outside the EU, we need to be fitter, leaner and more globally engaged,” the former MEP said.

This comes after Johnson promised to start breaking free from EU rules, adding that Britons “have nothing to fear”.

Under the trade agreement Johnson signed, Brussels has the power to inflict wide-ranging tariffs or other sanctions on the UK if it breaches the so-called “level playing field”.

Hannan used a website article to call for the ditching of:

– The Temporary Workers’ Directive: This guarantees agency staff receive equal pay and conditions with employees in the same business.

– The ban on products made from genetically modified (GM) crops.

– The REACH Directive, which outlaws chemicals linked to health problems including cancer, thyroid disease, hormone disruption and slow development.

– The End of Life Vehicles Directive, which aims to achieve environmentally-friendly dismantling and recycling.

– The Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), introduced to regulate hedge funds and private equity following the 2008 financial crash.

He also championed for an end to the “Droit de suite” rules which sees artists paid a fee on the resale of their work, “chunks of” the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) – the legal framework to harmonise regulation of securities markets and trading venues – and General Data Protection Regulations aimed at giving individuals more control over their own personal data.

Hannan is seen as a driving force behind the Brexit movement ever since be promoted the idea in the 1990s and then again as an MEP.

In the article published on the conservativehome website, Hannan said it was time to rip up “regulatory barriers” on everything from planning restrictions to staff ratio rules.

“We have won the right to make different decisions outside the EU,” Hannan wrote, attacking “Stone Age instincts” for greater state intervention, because of the pandemic.