Draft Government of Wales Act 2006 (Amendment) Order 2021

Stephen Doughty Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd February 2021 General Committees

[Stephen Doughty (Cardiff South and Penarth) (Lab/Co-op)]

Diolch, Cadeirydd. Thank you, Mrs Miller. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairpersonship.

I start by apologising on behalf of my hon. Friend the Member for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney (Gerald Jones), who would normally have spoken for the Opposition on this statutory instrument. Tragically, he lost his father in the past few days. I send condolences on behalf of all Committee members today and I thank the Minister for his kind comments.

From the outset, I want to be clear that Labour supports this statutory instrument and we note the debate that has already been held on it in the other place. This is, of course, a necessary instrument that will correct deficiencies that have arisen as a result of the UK’s exit from the European Union, as well as a number of drafting errors. And importantly for proper devolution, the order will remove restrictions on the Senedd’s legislative competence. This will ensure that there is a clear division in that legislative competence and that the Welsh Government will not have to rely on the UK Government to legislate on their behalf, whether or not they wanted them to, as was permitted to occur consensually and temporarily for the limited purpose of correcting the statute book in the devolved areas as a result of the UK leaving the EU.

Of course, as the Minister has explained, the order arises out of a quirk in the way that the Wales Act 2017 amended the Government of Wales Act 2006, relating to new concurrent powers, where either Welsh Ministers or UK Ministers can make changes to devolved law. That was extremely rare, so the provisions in the Government of Wales Act 2006 say that if UK primary legislation gives concurrent powers to UK Ministers in areas of devolved competence, the Senedd can only legislate to remove them with the consent of UK Ministers. However, in Scotland and Northern Ireland, the legislatures could use new legislation to remove concurrent powers, provided of course that they related only to devolved competence, without such consent.

The Minister has referred to the number of important areas that are covered in this order relating to plant varieties, direct payments to farmers, the Coronavirus Act 2020, Agriculture Act 2020, Fisheries Act 2020, the Trade Bill, the Environment Bill and other measures. Those are obviously important corrections to make.

However, with the volume of secondary legislation that was needed to deal with Brexit, the UK Government proposed and the devolved Administrations agreed that concurrent powers made sense in a large number of areas, so that Parliament could make correcting statutory instruments with the consent of the devolved Administrations.

I understand that there was an agreement previously, in 2017 or 2018, that when the process of primary legislation related to Brexit was coming to an end, there would be further secondary legislation so that the Senedd got back the competence and role that they rightly have. I know that the reports by the Senedd’s Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee also examined this matter in detail and made a number of recommendations.

Legislative competence for the Senedd will be properly held by the Senedd, and should there be need for any further corrections arising from the UK leaving the EU, then it should be the Welsh Government that legislate to make those corrections.

The United Kingdom functions, of course, as an effective family of nations, precisely because of the demarcation of legislative competencies that allows for our national legislatures and Governments to adequately represent the citizens who have elected them. I am pleased that the order reinforces that demarcation, after some of the blurring of the lines that we have seen, and so we are very happy to support this statutory instrument.

However, as was referred to by my noble Friends in the other place, I want to commend more than just the contents of this order; I also commend the way in which it has been brought forward. This is a rare example of the UK Government working constructively with the Welsh Government to support the devolution settlement and it has been positive to see the practical steps that have been taken in relation to this measure, even during the very tumultuous and complex legislative process that we have been through.

I hope that this is the start of more grown-up politics from the current Conservative Government relating to devolution. Governments from different nations, even when they are headed by parties of different colours, can work together, as opposed to some of the instances that we have seen, whether it is on furlough, the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 or on other matters. I hope that the Minister can reassure us that this statutory instrument will lead to a further collaborative approach from the UK Government on other constitutional issues that need resolving.

The Minister and I do not agree on very much when it comes to policy, but we do believe in the clear benefits of working together in this Union. I hope that we will see a welcome change from the UK Conservative Government in taking this approach, because, as I said, we have seen some very unfortunate developments relating to the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 and other matters. We need to see more of this type of sensible, pragmatic, mature co-operation, rather than some of the stuff that we have seen going on in other respects, which, rightly, the Welsh Government are now challenging the UK Government over.

I have a few minor questions to ask. First, can the Minister confirm that, if any further corrections are needed as a consequence of our EU exit, the Welsh Government will be able to legislate to make such corrections? Secondly, given that the Environment Bill and indeed the Trade Bill are still going forward through the House, can he explain how any issues arising from those will be dealt with? Thirdly, can he confirm whether there will be any further orders of this nature related to these matters, or whether it will now be for the Welsh Government to resolve them and for the two Governments to work constructively to ensure there is not confusion in what is a very complex area?

I think reference was made in the other place to the deep complexities of the constitutional legislation relating to devolution in this country, and we do not want to create confusion and an undue bureaucracy, so it is important that these matters are clarified. However, with that, we are very happy to support the order.