Revealed: The EU ‘legal straitjacket’ that would strangle Britain as Andy Burnham teases Brexit betrayal
Those who believe the UK should remain independent say British laws should be decided by our duly elected MPs in Westminster, rather than the UK being ruled over by unelected Brussels bureaucrats. The reality of what is involved in being under the direct jurisdiction of EU law is shocking.
In this exclusive report, the Brexit Facts4EU think-tank, with help from Stand for Our Sovereignty and The Campaign for an Independent Britain (CIBUK.Org), has quantified exactly what it would mean to return to the EU from the perspective of the laws that govern us.
An astonishing 211,000 legal instruments have been created since the EU started. 115,000 are live and we would have to accept them if we rejoined. The UK has dodged 21,000 since 2020, thanks to Brexit.
Plus, there are October’s 105 formal infringement decisions by the EU Commission against the EU’s member countries, to add to more than 2,000 active legal disputes already pending across the bloc.
This report has been shared exclusively with GB News.
Just how big is the legal mountain the EU created since it started?
The historical volume of legal instruments created by the EU since its inception is simply vast.
Some will doubtless say our figures are vastly overstated. They will base this on superficial internet searches, often using AI, or by looking at government statements. To be clear, we went direct to the source - the official EUR-Lex database. The government’s own legislative figures are far less. However, we have not only counted primary legislation, but the entire, all-encompassing body of the EU acquis currently in force on that database.
From a strict operational perspective, any member country must take into account all active legal instruments and the vast mountain of evolving EU case law. No nation can simply ignore these administrative acts, as they form part of a binding legal architecture that national governments and courts must constantly monitor and obey to avoid prosecution.
Whether counting primary statutes or daily administrative decrees, the political reality remains identical: the sheer volume of incoming rules creates a cumulative regulatory load that completely dwarfs independent domestic law-making.
"Britain Behind Bars" - What would the UK have to absorb if it joined the EU tomorrow?
For those advocating for a return to the bloc, the entry price is an all-or-nothing requirement to absorb the acquis communautaire - the accumulated body of EU law.
Clearly, over the years some of the legal instruments totalled above have been repealed, changed, or replaced. We therefore then analysed the ‘functional corpus’ of all legal instruments which the UK would be required to absorb if it were to rejoin the EU, as Andy Burnham wants.
In practical terms, the operational load is currently an extraordinary 115,707 active instruments.
This number comprises the total of all active legal documents and represents the day-to-day legal reality which a joining country must instantly absorb and comply with, on a daily basis.
Lord Redwood told GB News: "Facts4EU excel themselves by reminding us of the EU elephant in the room: the vast body of EU law that dictates to member states regardless of their wishes and needs. They reveal the massive scope of the EU ‘s power grab.
"They remind us we have escaped thousands of new laws and Court judgements since we left.
"It reminds me of how powerless the UK was when we were members to stop the torrent of legislation. As Single Market Minister all I could do was delay or dilute the worst of it. Only the Commission could write the laws.
"They made relentless efforts to take ever more areas out of member state democratic control. They knew how to create majorities of states to drive the agenda.
"There is no official Opposition to test out or block bad new EU laws in the way we do in Parliament."
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The life sentence the UK has dodged by leaving
Next, we examined how many new legal instruments the UK has avoided by leaving the EU. Our analysis of the enormous EUR-Lex database has captured all EU laws, directives, regulations, and rules that must be followed by member countries, plus it also sweeps in all binding, post-Brexit judgements handed down by both the EU’s courts (‘EU case law’).
From a strictly legal point of view, the UK officially stopped automatically having to implement new EU laws and follow new case law at 11pm on December 31, 2020. This marked the exact end of the Transition Period and the chart shows what has happened since then.
Who actually writes this mountain of law?
Crucially for British voters, the laws governing member states do not originate from elected parliamentarians. Under the EU’s constitutional treaties, the unelected EU Commission holds an absolute monopoly on the "right of initiative." These are then added to by EU judges as ‘case law’.
Neither the directly-elected EU Parliament nor national parliaments can draft or introduce a new EU statute. They can only amend, delay, or vote on what Ursula von der Leyen’s executive puts in front of them.
Neither can countries disobey judgements of the EU Courts of Justice.
This means the primary legislative engines remain structurally isolated from direct democratic accountability.
Why is the UK still being prosecuted six years after leaving?
The final element of our analysis exposes the administrative ties that Britain has yet to fully sever. Ursula von der Leyen’s Commission still maintains 10 active infringement cases against the UK, outlined in the table below.
While the British mainland successfully regained its statutory sovereignty on December 31, 2020, legacy clauses embedded within the Withdrawal Agreement and the Northern Ireland Protocol left a lengthy legal tail.
In terms of importance, these 10 ongoing prosecutions vary but primarily centre on disputed interpretations of EU citizens’ residency rights and cross-border customs checks in the Irish Sea. Until these specific treaty obligations expire or are settled, Brussels retains the unique legal authority to drag the UK before its Courts of Justice.
Finally, the proof the UK didn’t leave until 2021
Despite what was stated by the government in early 2020, they did not "get Brexit done" on January 31, 2020. Whilst the UK "formally" exited the EU on that date, under the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement a temporary transition framework was established.
During this transition period, EU law continued to operate in and apply to the UK exactly as it had before. British courts remained bound by the judgements of the EU Court of Justice (CJEU) and the UK was also legally required to adopt all new regulations and directives churned out by Brussels during those 11 months.
It was only when the clock struck midnight in Brussels (11pm in London) on December 31, 2020, that the transition window slammed shut. At that precise moment, the European Communities Act 1972 was formally repealed, and the direct jurisdiction of EU law over the British mainland ended.
Lord Redwood observed: "No wonder the EU economy is so sluggish, constantly disappointing today’s voters in France, Germany and many other member states. It is so bad one of the EU ‘s greatest figures, Mr Draghi - the saviour of the Euro, wrote a big report about the devastating impact on growth and prosperity from too many laws.
"Facts4EU had the patience to count the thousands of often costly anti-enterprise, unhelpful rules and judgements that are holding the economies back. Europeans are not by birth more stupid or lazier than Americans so there has to be a reason why the US has dramatically outgrown Europe this century and now has GDP per head around double the EU average.
"US common law lets businesses do anything that is not banned. EU code laws set out in a vast library of laws what you are allowed to do.
"The US system delivers prosperity. The EU brings high costs, business frustration and less growth. UK voters understood this when we voted to end oppressive EU law. Pity many of our politicians and civil servants still haven’t got it."
A government spokesman told GB News: "This article is false. There has been no proposal to join the Customs Union. Instead, we are building an ambitious, close relationship with the EU that will add up to £9 billion a year to our economy and create more opportunities for young people and communities across the whole UK.
"Far from increasing prices, our upcoming deal on agri-food and drink will end the costly paperwork tax that has harmed businesses and pushed up supermarket prices on everyday items like sugar, apples and beans."
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