Only a fraction of a mountain of EU legislation was abolished by the end of last year, GB News can disclose, sparking calls from senior Tories for the job to be given to a dedicated minister.
A year ago Prime Minister Rishi Sunak gave his public backing to the Retained EU Law Bill, which was to abolish more than 4,000 laws from Brussels by the end of December.
There was controversy last April when Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch told MPs privately that this so-called "bonfire" of EU regulations would lead to around 800 EU laws being scrapped.
She later publicly downgraded this figure to as few as 600 EU laws. However now her department has admitted that fewer than that lesser figure - just 700 EU laws - were scrapped by the end of 2023.
Kemi Badenoch is facing calls to lose responsibility for the policy
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The figures were revealed in a Parliamentary answer this week. Trade minister Kevin Hollinrake told MPs that "at the end of 2023, approximately 700 pieces of Retained EU Law" were revoked.
Hollinrake also admitted that there is far more retained EU law than previously thought - some 5,020 pieces of EU legislation - compared to the 4,800 EU laws previously disclosed by ministers.
Badenoch is due to give an update on scrapping retained EU law on January 22 to the European Union Scrutiny committee, chaired by Tory MP and veteran Eurosceptic Sir Bill Cash.
Badenoch could now be called to give evidence to the committee about why the Government has made such little progress in scrapping EU laws.
During his leadership campaign in late summer 2022, Sunak pledged to repeal or review 2,400 EU laws in his first 100 days as Prime Minister.
In January last year, Sunak told his Cabinet that work on scrapping EU laws “could be a collective effort across Cabinet that had the potential to drive growth and improve people’s everyday lives”, according to a readout circulated by Downing Street.
Conservatives are concerned that the process of ridding the UK of EU laws will be halted if Labour wins the general election, which is now barely a year away.
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In January last year, Sunak told his Cabinet that work on scrapping EU laws “could be a collective effort across Cabinet that had the potential to drive growth and improve people’s everyday lives”
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Tory MP David Jones told GB News that the failure of Badenoch's department to cut the red tape meant that it had to be given to a dedicated minister in the Cabinet Office.
He said: "This is extremely disappointing. Progress is negligible and undermines the fact that the Business and Trade department is unable to deal with such a huge cross-Government issue."
Badenoch's department is in charge of scrapping EU laws because it was a legacy brief from when Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg was in the department as the discontinued role of Brexit Opportunities minister.
Jones added: "The responsibility for the policy should be given to the Cabinet Office as a cross-Government brief and a single minister should be dedicated to this exercise.
"We need to rid our legal system of retained EU law as quickly as possible. If we don't win the next election, Labour will do all they can to retain as much EU law as possible."
Badenoch was approached for comment by GB News. Last year she said it had been impossible to push ahead with government plans to scrap all European Union laws because of Whitehall intransigence.
Badenoch blamed the behaviour of unnamed Whitehall officials for the move, but insisted her new approach would ultimately lead to greater regulatory reform.
“When I was handed responsibility for this Bill I saw that, confronted with the default position of retained EU law sunsetting at the end of this year, Whitehall departments had focused on which laws should be preserved ahead of the deadline, rather than pursuing the meaningful reform government and businesses want to see,” she wrote in the Telegraph.
“I decided a new approach was needed; one that will ensure ministers and officials are freed up to focus on more reform of REUL [Retained EU Law], and to do it faster.”
A source close to Kemi Badenoch said: "As Kemi said last year, rather than a race to an arbitrary deadline, the real prize of the REUL Bill is the opportunity to look again at our regulations and decide if they’re right for our economy, if we can scrap them, or if we can reform and improve them and help spur economic growth.
"This is what Kemi has been focused on and she continues to push across Whitehall to bear down on burdensome red-tape and ensure Government adopts a smarter regulatory approach.
"Furthermore, as promised, as of 1 January this year the UK’s statute book no longer recognises the supremacy of EU law or EU legal principles, which is a something all those who voted for Brexit can celebrate."
