The Prime Minister has announced at the Conservative Party conference that the Government will invoke Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union no later than the end of March next year. In her speech she also indicated that a Great Repeal Bill will be included in the next Queen’s Speech, which will soon be put before Parliament and which will remove the European Communities Act 1972 from the statute book. That will mean that the 1972 Act, the legislation that gives direct effect to all EU law in Britain, will no longer apply from the date upon which the UK formally leaves the European Union.  However, the PM did go on to point out an exception in respect of existing workers’ rights, when she said: “Existing workers’ legal rights will continue to be guaranteed in law – and they will be guaranteed as long as I am Prime Minister. We’re going to see workers’ rights not eroded, and not just protected, but enhanced under this Government.”

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