Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:26 pm on 6 March 2018.
Llywydd, can I first of all commend the drafters of the Bill and the considerable skill and work that has gone in? This has been an incredible learning curve for them, but it shows the resources and the skill that exist within this legislature.
Can I also say that I agree with very much of what David Melding has said? He has raised all the correct constitutional points in terms of our role, in terms of scrutiny of powers, and the way in which Government operates. I make no criticism at all of the points that he has raised, other than that the area where I do disagree with him, which is that I don't think we're in a position where we can afford to sit back and do nothing. I think that takes us back really to the starting point of what the dilemma is, where the dispute arises, where the problem arises. And it goes back to, really, the initial understanding of what the true constitutional nature of devolution is within the context of the UK constitution.
There is no doubt, in my view, because I think it is upheld by nearly all the constitutional and legislative committees, from the House of Lords, the House of Commons, in Scotland and in Wales, which I think, by and large, all accept that the Welsh Government's constitutional analysis is correct, and that is that those powers, in the absence of the withdrawal Bill—all those powers that are currently in Brussels that relate to devolved areas of responsibility come back where Parliament has already decided they belong, and that is decided by the various devolution statutes.
The withdrawal Bill, if it is not amended, is, in fact, a centralisation of powers Bill. It drives a coach and horses through the devolution settlements. This is a point that has been made time and time again to the UK Government. We have to go back to the very beginning of this whole process, post the referendum: that is, we were promised that there would be proper engagement and consultation. That didn't take place. We were promised that there would be amendments that were put in. Scotland were promised key amendments with regard to clause 11. That hasn't come in. We were promised that all sorts of arrangements would come in hand—that this would be resolved. [Interruption.] Yes, I will.