A day after triggering Brexit, the British government has published details of its “Great Repeal Bill”, which Prime Minister Theresa May calls an "essential step" on the way to leaving the EU. It aims to ensure European law will no longer apply in the UK.

As the name suggests, the Great Repeal Bill will repeal the 1972 European Communities Act, which brought Britain into the bloc. It will also end the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. To ensure a smooth transition, all existing EU legislation in the UK will be converted into domestic laws. 

“I can confirm the Great Repeal Bill will provide no future role for the European Court in the interpretation of our laws and the bill would not oblige our courts to consider cases decided by the European Court of Justice after we have left,” said David Davis, UK Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union.

The government also says it wants to avoid disrupting businesses and the lives of ordinary people. “We have been clear that we want a smooth and orderly exit and the Great Repeal Bill is integral to that approach. It will provide clarity and certainty for businesses, workers and consumers across the United Kingdom on the day we leave the EU,” Davis added.

But working out which bits of UK law came from the EU is not as simple as it may sound. An analysis by Thomson Reuters says over 52,000 laws have been introduced in the UK as a result of EU legislation since 1990, and research published by the UK parliament estimates 13.2 percent of UK primary and secondary legislation enacted between 1993 and 2004 was EU-related. 

The plan has raised concern among some politicians who fear the government will use Brexit to reshape EU laws without parliamentary scrutiny as they move them into British law. 

The Great Repeal Bill will be sent to parliament in May. Those talks could shape what the UK's post-Brexit laws look like, but the Great Repeal Bill will need to be done and dusted by the day the UK leaves the EU.