It’s two steps back as children’s rights at risk
Chief reporter Martin Shipton looks at the implications for Wales if Westminster succeeds in its ‘power grab’ and takes responsibility for EU policy areas that otherwise would be devolved to the Welsh and Scottish Governments.
WHILE most of the Brexit-related news this week has related to the continuing crisis over the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, a vote taken in the House of Commons late on Monday has potentially serious implications for Wales and Scotland.
MPs blocked amendments from the Scottish and Welsh Governments that would have protected Welsh devolution.
Both administrations, with the support of Labour, the SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats, tabled amendments to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill to amend a clause which would ensure that powers in devolved areas would, instead of coming from Brussels to Wales and Scotland, be intercepted by Westminster.
Such a manoeuvre has been described by both Carwyn Jones and Nicola Sturgeon as a “power grab” – a term rejected by UK government ministers like Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns, who argue that intercepting the powers is purely a temporary measure aimed at smoothing Brexit.
But never one to avoid the opportunity to be triumphalist when an appropriate occasion presents itself, Monmouth Tory MP David Davies positively rejoiced in the power grab, telling MPs during the debate on the amendment: “The reality is that the change will be called a power grab. I did not hear the phrase used today but it will be described as a power grab. Of course it is a power grab, and what a wonderful power grab it is too. We are grabbing powers from Brussels and bringing them back to London.”
Unsurprisingly Mr Davies was catcalled by the SNP and Plaid Cymru.
The Wales Act 2017 dictates that the Welsh Assembly will have responsibility for all matters not listed in the list of powers reserved to Westminster. Without clause 11 of the EU (Withdrawal) Bill, powers being repatriated from Brussels in areas not included in the list of reserved powers, such as agriculture, the environment and transport, would therefore go straight to the National Assembly.
But clause 11 will ensure that Westminster intercepts these powers.
One example of the power grab relates to children’s rights.
Stronger children’s rights protections exist in the devolved nations, and ministers in Wales are legally obliged to have due regard to children’s rights, as expressed in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, when exercising any of their functions – unlike in England.
The EU (Withdrawal) Bill will remove the basic children’s rights safeguards offered by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and prevent devolved nations from upholding the present arrangements and commitments to children’s rights into the future.
During the debate even Tory MPs who conceded that the clause was against the spirit of devolution still voted against it.
Former Attorney General Dominic Grieve made a revealing speech in which he said: “If I may say so, I have sympathy with the point that is being put across – that the way in which the bill is drafted seems to be excessively stark and to fail to take account of the sensitivities of the devolution settlements.
“However, I am afraid I cannot join the right honourable gentleman on the rhetoric because, ultimately, as a United Kingdom, which is what we are, there has to be flexibility in reaching a sensible way forward in the light of a change in circumstance.”
Addressing an SNP MP, Mr Grieve said: “If I may gently say, because I participated actively in the debates on the devolution legislation of 1997, it was always acknowledged then that devolution was not just a one-way street; for it to work, we required that flexibility of dialogue between Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast and London to reach solutions and not just to get anchored on principles. While I am respectful of the point he is trying to make, I suggest to him that that might be a sensible way forward.”
After the vote, Plaid Cymru’s Brexit spokesman, Hywel Williams, said: “Westminster’s worst colours were exposed tonight, with Unionist MPs rising one after the other to argue against Wales’ national interest, and in favour of reversing 20 years of devolution, reinstating direct Westminster rule over Wales.
“The Withdrawal Bill is being used by Westminster not to take back control from Brussels, but to take back control from the three devolved countries in the UK.
“Both the Welsh Government and the Scottish Government have made it clear that they oppose this power grab, but Westminster tonight voted to proceed regardless of the fact that two of the UK’s member countries are completely opposed to it.
“The UK is a state consisting of four countries, not just one, but Westminster voted tonight to ensure that only one should be able to govern itself.”
So there we have it: instead of devolution being a process not an event, it’s sometimes a case of one step forward, two steps back.