All 1 Stewart Hosie contributions to the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018

Read Bill Ministerial Extracts

Tue 16th Jan 2018
European Union (Withdrawal) Bill
Commons Chamber

Report stage: First Day: House of Commons

European Union (Withdrawal) Bill Debate

Full Debate: Read Full Debate
Department: Attorney General

European Union (Withdrawal) Bill

Stewart Hosie Excerpts
Report stage: First Day: House of Commons
Tuesday 16th January 2018

(6 years, 11 months ago)

Commons Chamber
Read Full debate European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts Amendment Paper: Consideration of Bill Amendments as at 16 January 2018 - (16 Jan 2018)
Bernard Jenkin Portrait Mr Jenkin
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

We have come a long way since the Government first published the Bill in draft last summer, when there were very peremptory conversations with the devolved Administrations and they felt very unconsulted about the Bill that had been published. There has been quite a lot of trust building and discussion, and the meetings of the Joint Ministerial Committee, which has discussed these matters and produced joint memorandums, shows that the trust is capable of building. I do think we have gone backwards a little bit in recent weeks, but I hope that the work that my Committee is doing will help. My Committee is going to Cardiff at the beginning of February and then we will be making an official visit, following an unofficial visit late last year, to Edinburgh, to build up these relationships and these understandings between the different Parliaments and the different Administrations. I do hope that in the end we can arrive at the right destination.

Stewart Hosie Portrait Stewart Hosie (Dundee East) (SNP)
- Hansard - -

I welcome the Committee Chair’s taking his Committee formally and informally to Edinburgh and I agree with what he says about trust, but I hope that he agrees with me and my party that trust would be ably demonstrated if the Government had tabled an amendment, committing to deliver all the 111 powers to the devolved Administrations.

Bernard Jenkin Portrait Mr Jenkin
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

Trust is about what is offered to the other party. In this case, the Government have been consistently misconstrued. Given the drafting, clause 11 can be read as though the Government intended to hold on to the 111 powers for all time, withholding them from the Scottish Government, but the Government have repeatedly said that that is not the case. My Committee has also consistently said that the Government’s intention is that the devolved Administrations and Parliaments should finish with substantially more powers as a result of leaving the EU than they had before.