The need for a Freedoms Bill shows Brexit didn’t get ‘done’ after all

Rows with Brussels will be non-stop when the post-Brexit bonfire of regulations becomes law

The government is planning to bring forward a new ‘Brexit Freedoms’ Bill to make it easier to amend outdated EU law (Stefan Rousseau/PA) (PA Archive)

Maybe the weather isn’t ideal for street parties and dancing around the maypole, and nor is the political climate altogether propitious, but the prime minster at any rate is keen to celebrate the second birthday of Brexit.

Boris Johnson must believe that he did “get Brexit done”, despite the queues outside Dover, the unstable Northern Ireland protocol, and permanent squabbling with France about fishing quotas and refugees.

The freshly announced “Brexit Freedoms Bill” is a case in point. To his critics, it’s Johnson’s way of distracting from the Partygate scandal, chucking some “red meat” to his restive backbenchers, and handily stoking up old arguments about the EU.