The House of Commons debates today the draft Criminal Justice and Data Protection (Protocol No. 36) Regulations 2014. The European Scrutiny Committee, Home Affairs and Justice Committees in the Commons, and the House of Lords European Union Committee have been calling for the Parliament to have a genuine opportunity to debate and vote on the measures the UK should seek to rejoin. In fact, the European Scrutiny Committee has called for the Government to table a separate motion for each of the 35 measures it proposes to rejoin.

However, “The form of debate and vote proposed by the Government on Monday falls far short of the Committees’ expectations and, once again, demonstrates the Government’s cavalier approach to Parliamentary scrutiny of this important matter.”

Bill Cash MP, Chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee, said
“When we embarked on the process of scrutinising the Government’s approach to the 2014 block opt-out decision, we did so in the expectation that Parliament would have a genuine say in determining the measures the Government should seek to rejoin. We do not accept that the motion tabled by the Government for Monday’s debate fulfils the Government’s commitment to engage constructively with Parliament, or its undertaking to hold a further vote in both Houses of Parliament before making a formal application to rejoin any measures. We expect Parliament to have a further opportunity to vote on the full 35 measures on the basis of an amendable motion or motions.”