This Scots-Welsh duo pack a punch
THERESA May might be focused on stopping a Tory rebellion derailing her Brexit plans but Carwyn Jones and Nicola Sturgeon fired a warning shot yesterday.
The Scottish and Welsh Governments have said they cannot recommend that politicians in Edinburgh and Cardiff, respectively, grant their consent to the flagship EU Withdrawal Bill.
This is not a declaration that the two governments will fight to stop Brexit. Rather, they are signalling they want changes made to the legislation.
They are sending a message to Mrs May and Brexit Secretary David Davis that they forget about the devolved administrations at their peril.
Westminster does not need the consent of AMs and MSPs to pass legislation affecting the Assembly or the Scottish Parliament. But the magnitude of the row that would erupt if Westminster pressed ahead with legislation these institutions had rejected would make the political establishment shudder.
It would be just the type of con- frontation that SNP activists who long for a rerun of the independence referendum would point to as proof that occupants of Downing Street will never treat their nation with respect.
Damian Green, the PM’s righthand man, knows how awkward it would be if the Assembly rejected the legislation that his government is working to get through parliament. Such a vote of no confidence would be particularly damaging for a Conservative government which lost its majority and is reliant on DUP support.
Whips and strategists not only have to find a way of keeping MPs on board, they need to ensure that the First Ministers in Wales and Scotland do not lead an assault on their legislation. Mr Jones and Ms Sturgeon have already let it be known they regard it as a “naked power grab”, so some prime concessions will be needed for them to deem the bill acceptable.
The close collaboration between the two devolved governments is one of the most interesting developments in modern politics. Ed Miliband spent much of his campaign in 2015 trying to stamp on claims Labour would work with the SNP, but Mr Jones and Ms Sturgeon show what such a partnership looks like – and they have no hang-ups about together taking the fight to a Tory government.
Welsh Labour’s influence within the UK party may be growing. Mr Jones has led calls for the UK to follow Norway’s example and negotiate close integration with many elements of the single market; UK Labour now backs staying in the single market during a post-2019 transition phase.
Mr Jones has an opportunity in the coming months to further articulate his vision for how Labour and Britain should navigate Brexit, and for how his party should plot its own path back to power at a UK level.
And if the governments in Cardiff and Edinburgh conclude they can score wins when they speak with one voice, what other battles will they fight together? The Western Mail newspaper is published by Media Wales a subsidiary company of Trinity Mirror PLC, which is a member of IPSO, the Independent Press Standards Organisation. The entire contents of The Western Mail are the copyright of Media Wales Ltd. It is an offence to copy any of its contents in any way without the company’s permission. If you require a licence to copy parts of it in any way or form, write to the Head of Finance at Six Park Street. The recycled paper content of UK newspapers in 2016 was 62.8%