Brexit Bill deal ‘will cut throat’ of Welsh devolution, say critics
PRIME Minister Theresa May hailed the deal which has won Welsh Government backing for the EU Government’s flagship Brexit legislation as a “significant achievement” – but critics fear it will “cut the throat of devolution”.
Details of the agreement – which the Scottish Government has rejected – have been published and the Welsh Government intends to repeal its socalled Continuity Bill which laid claim to powers in devolved areas now held by Brussels.
The agreement follows months of talks during which the UK Government has worked to avoid the National Assembly and the Scottish Parliament refusing to grant consent to the EU Withdrawal Bill.
The original Bill was condemned as a “naked power grab” by the Welsh and Scottish First Ministers, but the UK Government has now tabled amendments in a bid to address concerns.
The agreement sets out how the UK Government will seek to win the consent of the devolved legislatures for common regulations in a limited number of areas – and lays out the rules for how it can proceed if consent is not granted.
Welsh Finance Secretary and Labour leadership contender Mark Drakeford, who represented the Welsh
Government in the talks, said that while the new position did not “meet the whole of our aims” there was “very significant progress from where we started”.
However, there is deep unhappiness about the agreement in Plaid Cymru circles, with Carmarthen East and Dinefwr MP Jonathan Edwards saying the Welsh Government should face a vote of no confidence.
He said: “The Labour party that is running Wales has got one job... And that is to defend Wales and defend the Welsh constitution, and they have capitulated despicably... I am incandescent with rage that any government of my country would just abandon the democratic mandate that they’ve been given in two referenda...
“They’ve conceded on a principle that’s going to cut the throat of devolution. In my view now it’s crystal clear that the devolution model that we’ve had since 1999 is completely finished and unfit for purpose and we’re entering a very dangerous period in the political history of Wales...
“They have surrendered, they have waved the white flag, they have capitulated, they are not fit to be the government of Wales.”
Whitehall is keen to avoid the situation where different rules could make it harder for trade to flow between Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. A key goal is establishing common regulations across the UK known as “frameworks” in 24 areas.
The agreement also makes provision for how the status quo could be maintained on a temporary basis post-Brexit through regulations in certain areas if a framework has not yet been implemented.
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster David Lidington, who represented the UK Government in talks, said that draft regulations would be shared with the devolved legislatures so approval can be sought.
However, he said the agreement recognised that the UK Government and Parliament may consider it necessary to act even if agreement cannot be reached “to protect the UK internal market, ensure our international obligations are met or manage our common resources”.
He said that the amendments to the EU Withdrawal Bill, now going through the House of Lords, “recognise that it is only the UK Government, with approval of the UK Parliament, that can act for the UK as a whole”.
But he added: “The amendments now ensure that the regulations maintaining specific frameworks will expire five years after they come into force, if not revoked earlier, and the power to create those regulations will expire two years after exit day at the latest”.
The UK Government has pledged not to “bring forward legislation for England where the devolved administrations are prevented from doing so by virtue existing EU frameworks being maintained”.
Westminster will continue to seek the Assembly’s consent for legislation affecting areas for which it is responsible.
Mr Lidington said the agreement “sets out that the devolved administrations will not unreasonably withhold recommendations of consent, recognising that this is ultimately a decision for the devolved legislatures”.
If a majority of AMs now vote to grant consent to the EU Withdrawal Bill, the potential for constitutional battle between the two governments will have been defused. The UK Government will no longer seek to challenge the Welsh Government’s Continuity Bill in the Supreme Court.
The Welsh Government’s Mr Drakeford, in a letter to Mr Lidington, said the changes to legislation “represent a substantive change in approach that balances our concerns on the risks to our devolution settlement and your position to seek certainty in law as we leave the European Union”.
In a statement, Mr Drakeford stressed the scale of the changes that had been secured.
He said the original legislation “diverted” the powers returning from Brussels to Westminster but the amendment “reverses the UK Government’s original position” and “creates a default position in which powers over devolved policy lie with the National Assembly, as they have done since 1999”.
Mr Drakeford added that the UK Government will not “normally” put regulation-making powers to Parliament “unless the devolved legislatures and administrations have given their consent”.
Admitting that the outcome to the talks was “not perfect”, he said the Welsh Government would have preferred for “each of the Governments to trust each other’s undertakings not to legislate in areas where we agree UK wide frameworks are needed until such frameworks have been agreed”.
However, he said the deal “soundly defends the devolved interests of this
National Assembly”.
Prime Minister Mrs May welcomed the deal, saying: “It’s a significant achievement, it will provide legal certainty, increase the powers of the devolved governments and respect the devolution settlements. We’ve made considerable changes to the Bill to reflect issues made by [MPs] and by the devolved administrations. It is indeed disappointing that the Scottish Government have not yet felt able to add their agreement to the new amendments and we sincerely hope that they will reconsider their position.”
Earlier Brexit Secretary David Davis told MPs on the House of Commons Exiting the EU Committee that talks were still going on with the Scottish Government.
He said: “I was slightly disappointed we didn’t get agreement with the Scottish Government. I hope we can find a mechanism for getting agreement between us still.”
But Liz Saville Roberts, leader of Plaid Cymru party in the Commons, said: “For the first time since the birth of devolution the Westminster Government has succeeded in clawing back powers which should be held by our national assembly. This will have major consequences for the UK’s constitution, and this is all thanks to the Labour Party in Wales.”
Plaid leader Leanne Wood gave a scathing response to the deal in the Senedd, saying: “Tories are clambering over themselves to hail Labour’s capitulation and their willingness to hand our parliament’s powers back to Westminster... Our leverage is gone, leadership lost and parliament weakened – this is a Labour-Tory stitch-up like no other.”
SNP MP Joanna Cherry warned it was now “a very real possibility” that the Scottish Parliament would not give its formal consent to the EU Withdrawal Bill.
Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies criticised Ms Wood’s stance as “disappointing and divisive”, saying: “Apparently it’s a bad thing for politicians of different parties to try and work together in our country’s interest.”
CIVIL servants have worked for months to avoid the constitutional crisis that could have erupted if the National Assembly had refused to grant consent to the UK Government’s flagship Brexit legislation.
AMs in different parties had profound concerns that legislation intended to ensure that the UK will not crash into chaos the day after Brexit would result in a loss of powers for the Assembly Members.
Defenders of devolution were adamant that powers today held by Brussels in areas of devolved responsibility such as agriculture should go to the Assembly and not Westminster after Brexit.
But a priority for the UK Government has been ensuring that it does not become harder for trade to flow between the different nations of the UK. It has sought to avoid the scenario where, for example, different regulations would make it more complicated for a farmer in Wales to sell goods to a baker in Bristol. The UK needs its very own single market.
The Welsh and Scottish governments could also see the need for “frameworks” to ensure trade keeps flowing, but they were deeply alarmed by the initial proposals, which First Ministers Carwyn Jones and Nicola Sturgeon memorably described as a “naked power grab”.
Officials and ministers have laboured to thrash out a deal which would not trample over the devolution settlement. It has been a long slog but this week the Welsh and UK governments announced they had agreed new arrangements.
The Scottish Government is unhappy with the changes the UK Government has agreed to make to the EU Withdrawal Bill, and Plaid Cymru is downright dismayed.
There is still the potential for a constitutional battle which could culminate in Westminster legislating in the face of opposition from the Scottish Parliament – a situation which could inflame support for another independence referendum.
Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford, who represented the Welsh Government in the talks, can point to a raft of changes secured in the legislation. The Welsh and Scottish governments have demonstrated their combined clout.
But now Cardiff and Edinburgh are pursuing very different strategies as they seek to preserve prosperity and sovereignty. Every government has a sober duty to protect its nation’s interests.
Decisions made against Brexit’s ticking clock will shape our future.