LONDON, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- Brexit Secretary David Davis told MPs in the House of Commons Thursday that the government's new Repeal Bill is not a rejection of European Union law.
Politicians start a three-day debate on the bill which seeks authority to transfer more than 40 years of European law into British law in March 2019 when Britain ends its membership of the EU.
The main opposition Labour party has instructed its MPs to vote against the repeal bill.
Davis kicked off the marathon debate in the Commons with a plea to politicians from all parties to work with him to deliver the legislation that ensures Britain's statute book will be fully prepared for exit day.
He told MPs he welcomes the scrutiny and debate that the bill is certain to receive as on its journey through the legislative process.
Davis told MPs that the government has acted responsibly in leaving the EU by prioritising a functioning statute book.
His said that in bringing forward the bill the government is ensuring the smoothest possible exit from the EU, enabling the continued stability of the British legal system, maximising certainty for business, consumers and individuals.
Davis said: "We are not rejecting EU law, but embracing the work done between member states in over forty years of membership and using that solid foundation to build on in the future, once we return to being masters of our own laws."
The aim is for EU laws to become British laws to give politicians a chance to decide later which to keep and which to discard.
With May relying on support from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to prop up her minority government, the government could face defeats when votes take place on some amendments to the bill.
Opposition parties, including the main opposition Labour Party, plan to propose a number of amendments during the bill, with a possibly of voting against it at the end of the debate.
In a statement the Labour Party said: "As democrats we cannot vote for a bill that unamended would let government ministers grab powers from parliament to slash people's rights at work and reduce protection for consumers and the environment,"
A number of politicians have raised concerns that the Repeal bill will allow government ministers use procedures first introduced during the reign of King Henry VIII to change legislation without parliamentary scrutiny in the Houses of Parliament.
In an eve of debate editorial, the London-based Independent, said the Repeal Bill deserved to fail.
"There has been no more ambitious exercise in lawmaking, and unmaking, in British history. For the bill seeks to unwind almost five decades of European law and rule making, transferring them into domestic British law, in effect unchanged, at least for the time being. In doing so it will be necessary to centralise many powers usually exercised by the Lords and Commons to ministers under so-called Henry VIII clauses.
The editorial concluded: "Such are the insuperable practical difficulties to actually leaving the EU that the attempt in the Brexit negotiations and in legislation to make sense of nonsense will ultimately fail. Brexit, in other words, may not happen. The Great Repeal Bill may one day itself have to be repealed."
