I'm pleased to support the motion before the Assembly this afternoon. As the CLAC report notes, central to the recommendation to approve the LCM is the inter-governmental agreement, and I want to return to that later. This, together with the amendments to the original clause 11. As the CLAC report states: 

'The amendments tabled by UK Ministers to clause 11 of the Bill indicate an

important step forward and show significant movement by the UK Government.'

And CLAC also observed, and this has already been referred to, that 

'the force of the Sewel convention has become apparent during the Bill’s progress'.

I do believe genuinely that this whole process of difficult negotiation has been to the credit of the UK Government and also to the Welsh Government. This is what we expect in difficult constitutional areas, which many of us never wanted to occur and many of the challenges have been unanticipated. But there has clearly been constructive working on both sides and this has borne fruit.

It is clear to me that the Welsh Government secured an important and constitutionally significant concession from the UK Government on the way EU law is to be retained until frameworks for the UK are agreed. Let me again quote the CLAC report: 

'The current position whereby this temporary preservation will apply to the devolved institutions and England is a substantial development.'

I genuinely think the Welsh Government's negotiation here has been hugely significant and has obviously had an effect on the debate in Scotland. 

Immediately after the Brexit vote, which was a democratic mandate of great constitutional importance—I did not vote for it, but we cannot deny its importance—there was a strong consensus that UK frameworks would be needed when we left the EU. It seems to me that the need, overwhelmingly in the public interest, to construct frameworks has been the motivational principle driving the Welsh Government and the UK Government. Unfortunately, Plaid and the SNP have been driven by narrow political interests. On the one hand, they say we need frameworks, but on the other hand, Scotland, and presumably Wales, should have a veto.

It's appropriate to note here that the EU's frameworks do not operate on the basis of a national veto. They operate by negotiation, with an ability to use majority voting if necessary. Perhaps the public are well ahead of the nationalists. They realise the practical need for shared governance, relating to the environment and farming, for instance. There seems little support in Scotland or Wales for the narrow nationalist agenda on the process of agreeing frameworks.