‘Brexit power grab could put devolution in danger’
THE decision of the Welsh Government to withdraw its objection to the so-called Brexit powers grab by Westminster proves the need for a new constitutional settlement in the UK, according to two veteran former Labour MPs.
Lord Elystan Morgan and Gwynoro Jones have written a pamphlet in which they argue that, without new arrangements, the UK Government will be able to roll back devolution and exert control from the centre.
Last month the Welsh Government reached an agreement with Westminster under which it allowed the UK Government to intercept for seven years 24 powers that should come to Cardiff from the EU at the time of Brexit.
The Scottish Government has refused to agree to a similar deal.
In the pamphlet Lord Morgan – a former MP for Cardiganshire – says: “The EU (Withdrawal) Bill’s devolution clauses are substantial. Seemingly, they describe an interim process, but when reviewed alongside the considerable powers given to UK ministers generally, the passages cause discomfort, if not alarm, in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
“A successful Brexit settlement cannot be constructed by the UK Government alone. Instead, there must be a partnership approach in negotiations with the devolved administrations.”
The peer warns that the constitutional and political consequences of not doing so would be serious and damaging for future relations. He says that the Sewel Convention – under which Westminster agrees not to legislate in devolved areas without the consent of the devolved administrations – has a part to play.
But he insists that a “very specific mechanism” is needed to provide a framework for future relations between the UK and the devolved governments.
Lord Morgan writes: “At the moment the UK Government maintains that the Joint Ministerial Committee adequately performs this task. The fact that it meets so seldom, produces no agenda or minutes reveal it to be the empty talking shop that it was intended to be.
“With the ongoing devolution deficit and Brexit negotiations, there is an absolute need for a UK-wide constitutional convention, involving all political parties and elements of British society, to discuss the future of the Union within a framework of mutual respect and unanimity, promoting a real partnership of equals across the isles.”
Former Carmarthen MP Mr Jones states in the pamphlet: “There are inherent dangers in [the “power grab”] not the least of which is the potential for the Westminster Government to extend the period beyond seven years.
“That is why the UK needs statutory intergovernmental frameworks to resolve differences and ensure the opinions of every devolved parliament is heard in areas of common.
“Such a structured statutory body would be charged with day-to-day monitoring of Brexit in the countries concerned. A homogenous approach as advocated by the Prime Minister is a sham and a nonsense which can very well betray the individual needs of the devolved administrations.
“Indeed, as we further progress over the next few years, fundamental reform is essential in ensuring a greater formal role for the devolved administrations within UK decision-making post-Brexit, analogous to that offered by federal or confederal systems of governance.”
In a written statement he made about the agreement between the Welsh Government and the UK Government, Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford said there had been give and take on both sides. Originally the UK Government had not been prepared to place a limit on the length of time it would keep the 24 powers.
Westminster had also agreed not to legislate for new UK-wide frameworks on matters like agricultural support without first obtaining the consent of the National Assembly.
But Mr Drakeford added: “[Until] a new constitutional settlement for the whole UK is negotiated – for which this [Welsh] Government has long argued – it is the constitutional reality that Parliament is sovereign.”