Brexit: Rishi Sunak broke his word over EU laws, says Jacob Rees-Mogg

Former Conservative minister Jacob Rees-Mogg has accused Rishi Sunak of breaking his word after the government ditched plans to allow thousands of EU-era laws to expire by the end of 2023.

Defending the move, Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch said the strict deadline had created "legal uncertainty".

She also argued that the race to get rid of the rules before 2024 was preventing "meaningful reform".

But Mr Rees-Mogg said the deadline would "make Whitehall work".

Speaking to the BBC's Today programme, he said: "It is hard enough to motivate Whitehall at the best of times - they are not necessarily coming into the office, they don't seem to be working with the efficiency one would like.

"Without a deadline, nothing will happen and we will retain these EU laws for a long time."

He also said getting rid of the laws would help make the UK's economy more competitive and reduce inflation. Of the PM, he said: "He has broken his word. This is very serious in my view".

Dave Penman, the head of the FDA Union which represents senior civil servants, hit back at suggestions the civil service were to blame, saying the deadline was "an inevitability".

"It was a bizarre way of doing business in government to say that unless we get to a certain point in time, any piece of legislation will simply fall away."

Mr Rees-Mogg is not the only Conservative MP upset at the government's decision.

On Wednesday, 20 Tory backbenchers went to see the chief whip Simon Hart to express their concern, and some MPs went into Downing Street to do the same.

One MP told the BBC the government was acting in "bad faith" and said they didn't buy the argument that the deadline was impossible.

A senior backbencher said of Mr Sunak: "He keeps changing his mind about things."

The divisions in the Conservative Party over Brexit are far from as serious as they were under Theresa May. But there are still spits over the pace and extent of divergence from Europe.

When the UK officially left the EU in 2020, the UK incorporated thousands of EU laws into UK law to minimise disruption to businesses - with an ongoing audit by civil servants having identified 4,800 so far.

The Retained EU Law Bill, introduced during Liz Truss's premiership, set a 31 December 2023 deadline, after which most of the laws would have expired unless ministers decided to replaced or retain them.

Critics - including opposition parties, trade unions and campaign groups - had argued that the deadline was unrealistic and could lead to important legislation being lost by accident.

Environmental groups had been particularly concerned warning about a loss of rights and legal protections in areas including water quality, air pollution standards and protections for wildlife.

In a statement, she said the change would be made through an amendment when the Retained EU Law Bill returns to Parliament next week.

Labour's shadow Cabinet Office minister Jenny Chapman called the move a "humiliating u-turn," adding: "After wasting months of parliamentary time, the Tories have conceded that this universally unpopular bill will damage the economy."