Dozens of EU laws could be imposed on Britain during a two-year transition period after Brexit, it was claimed today.
A leaked Whitehall document revealed the UK could be forced to accept 37 controversial EU directives.
One of the rulings could make people take out insurance for all off-road vehicles including tractors, golf buggies and mobility scooters.
Another could see all households forced to have four bins to hit ‘unfeasible’ EU recycling targets, according to the report seen by the Daily Telegraph.
On a visit to Downing Street yesterday (Pictured), the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier insisted Britain must ‘play by the rules’ to obtain a transition deal
Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg (pictured addressing journalism students in London yesterday) said the government must ‘be strong’ in rejecting new EU laws
The UK could also be bound by energy efficiency targets for up to a decade after Brexit, it warned.
Ministers have played down the prospect of laws being passed during the transition period, saying EU processes typically take longer than that.
But the leak will fuel tensions over the UK’s lack of control during the mooted transition period.
The EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier reiterated the bloc’s hard line on the issue yesterday, saying that Britain must ‘play by the rules’ to obtain a deal.
However, MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said changes ‘The range and extent of these laws covers almost everyone in the country one way or another and we would have no say at all over some laws that we could now veto.
The chance for a vengeful EU to cause regulatory damage to us may be too great for them to resist.
‘The Government needs to be strong in refusing to accept new laws once we have left.’
Theresa May is already gearing up for a battle with Brussels over free movement rules during the transition.
Ministers have complained that the demand goes beyond what was agreed at the December summit but senior EU figures – including the European Parliament’s Brexit co-ordinator Guy Verhofstadt – insist it is ‘not negotiable’.
Theresa May and David Davis (pictured in Downing Street yesterday) are resisting Brussels attempts to extend full free movements rights into the transition period
Meanwhile, the PM has rejected Treasury plans to keep Britain in a customs union with the EU in the medium term – despite Brussels saying it will make new trade barriers ‘unavoidable’.
Chancellor Philip Hammond has been privately pushing for parts of the economy to stay in the customs union until Britain has struck trade deals with nations such as the US, China and Japan, which could take many years.
The Treasury, backed by Business Secretary Greg Clark, believed it was winning this argument within government.
But Whitehall sources said the PM had rejected the idea and was committed to making a clean break once the Brexit transition period ends in 2021.
A source said: ‘I don’t doubt this idea is being discussed somewhere in Whitehall, but it is not being discussed in Downing Street. We are leaving the customs union and we are not rejoining it.’