Governance of the Union (Constitution Committee Report)

Baroness Humphreys Excerpts

Monday 28th April 2025 Grand Committee

[Baroness Humphreys (LD)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Drake, the members of the Constitution Committee and the committee clerks for an excellent, comprehensive report, which I know will make essential reading for Ministers in this place and in the devolved legislatures. It will also be of particular interest to all of us who have to deal with, and sometimes grapple with, the Sewel convention.

This is a poignant occasion for those of us on these Benches. We know that our late noble friend Baroness Randerson would have relished the opportunity to contribute to this debate today. As a Welsh Office Minister in the coalition Government from 2012 to 2015, her dedication to devolution and her influence over its processes was immense. She was also a member of the Common Frameworks Scrutiny Committee, and I know how much pride she took in that role. She is sorely missed.

She and I had a conversation about the Sewel convention in the final months of the previous Conservative Government, when the convention had, once again, been breached. I mentioned how lucky she was to have been in office when things were easier. Her reply was characteristically clear, forthright and kind. She said, “It certainly wasn’t any easier. We worked hard, for long hours, sometimes late into the night, to make sure the Sewel convention wasn’t breached”.

For me, that summed up the difference between pre-2019 and the post-2019 reality we were then living in. Before the 2019 election, there was an understanding in Governments—including Conservative ones—of how precious our devolution settlements are to those of us who live in the devolved nations, and there was firm support of the convention. However, post 2019, Sewel almost seemed to become dispensable, sacrificed on the altar of UK nationalism and the then Conservative Government’s concept of binding the nation together.

The committee’s report confirms that the convention was breached 19 times in the four years after 2020 but had been breached only four times before 2020. This difference in attitudes to the convention, and to devolution itself, is highlighted in the report, with the committee calling for good will on the part of all four Governments of the UK. It emphasises the role of the UK Government, as the most powerful body, in recognising the impacts that their decisions may have on the other nations. Attitude and good will are of course impossible to legislate for, but I commend the committee on its recommendations for improving and strengthening the convention.

The committee calls for a culture of positive engagement to be added to the existing principles for intergovernmental relations. This would be a positive step forward that would make it possible for civil servants to remind Ministers in the UK Government, and in the devolved Governments, of the expectation that they should engage with one another.

The principle of early positive engagement is especially visible from this new UK Labour Government in relation to Wales, and I am grateful for that. With the exception of the Crown Estate Act—where, disappointingly, there was no prior consultation with the Welsh Government—legislative consent Motions from the Senedd now largely express satisfaction with discussions held with the UK Government. On some occasions, the Welsh Government may request the inclusion of their interests in a Bill.

However, I agree with the Senedd’s Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee in its call for

“a clear engagement timetable … This would provide a more transparent process so that legislatures, governments and stakeholders know what deadlines are being worked to”.

It is frustrating that the Second Reading of a Bill in your Lordships’ House can sometimes take place before the date of publication of the relevant Senedd committee’s report on the LCM. Better joint timetabling could remedy this and should, I believe, be included in the updating of the devolution guidance notes that the committee recommends.

I support these and other committee recommendations. I have to accept the reality that the Sewel convention is perfectly imperfect—or is it imperfectly perfect? I am not too sure. The use of “normally” in the assertion that the UK Government would not normally act in devolved matters leaves it open to interpretation, but it does prevent the devolved legislatures operating in a quasi-federal manner. Federalism would be a welcome step forward for those of us on these Benches, but it is probably a step too far for others.