Days 6 and 7 of Committee Stage on the Bill took place on 12 and
13 December. The newspaper headlines have, understandably, focussed
on the first defeat for the Government – Dominic Grieve's
amendment to clause 9 (Amendment 7) was passed by the House after
11 Tory MPs rebelled against the Government whip – but there
have actually been a number of Government concessions this
week.
Day 6: A concession on scrutiny
On Day 6, MPs considered clause 7 (power to make regulations in
order to prevent, remedy or mitigate any 'failure of' or
'deficiency in' retained EU law) and certain related
amendments to other parts of the Bill.
As discussed
here, these powers are a particular controversial aspect of the
Bill, because they would authorise a Government Minister, by means
of regulations, to modify not only secondary legislation (ie other
regulations, orders and rules), but also primary legislation (ie
Acts of Parliament) – the now (in)famous 'Henry VIII
powers'. MPs were
