6. Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance: The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:03 pm on 25 April 2018.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 4:03, 25 April 2018

I thank the Member for those detailed questions. I'll do my best to answer as many as I can. Mr Isherwood referred to a duty on UK Ministers to report regularly to the UK Parliament on progress in relation to frameworks. I believe that is likely to be on a three-monthly basis. We were keen on that because it puts real pressure into the system to reach agreements quickly on those matters. That report will be shared with the Assembly, as Mark Isherwood said.

I repeat my commitment to continuing to engage with the Scottish Government and the UK Government on outstanding matters, as the Scottish Government sees it, within this agreement. I spoke to Michael Russell, the Scottish Minister, last week and earlier this week. We commit ourselves to continued work on the issues that the Scottish Government has identified, and if anything can be done to improve the agreement in a way that would allow the Scottish Government to sign up to it and is acceptable to other parties, then we will work right up to the last minute to try to bring that about, and that's why we will go to the JMC again next week, with Scotland and the UK Government, to track progress on that. 

Mark Isherwood asked me how likely I thought it was that there wouldn't be agreement in relation to the matters that are to be placed in the freezer. I think that is very unlikely, because, as Members will have seen in an annex to the inter-governmental agreement, we set out the 24 areas that all three Governments are agreed are potentially subject to framework agreements, and there are two other matters—state aid and food geographical indications—that remain the subject of continued discussion between the administrations.

On the Supreme Court, as you will see, this is a reciprocal agreement that we have come to. The Attorney-General, if and when a legislative consent motion is passed on the floor of this Assembly, will go to the Supreme Court and seek to withdraw the reference that has been made there. We will then come forward with proposals to the National Assembly that would lead to the proposition being placed on the floor here, but the Law Derived from the European Union (Wales) Bill, as it still is, would be repealed. You cannot repeal a Bill that has not yet received the Royal Assent. This Bill is yet to be in that position, and the timings of matters are therefore dependent on that course of action. But we will come forward once the Attorney-General has taken the actions he has committed to taking, and put that proposition before this National Assembly for its determination.