Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance – in the Senedd at 1:55 pm on 20 June 2018.
Can I begin just by agreeing with what Simon Thomas said, but not quite in the spirit that he said it? He's right to say that the impact of the agreement will now be lived out in the actual experience that we will have over the coming months, and it is our belief that the agreement secures the position of this Assembly. Any powers that we agree should be held temporarily, to be operated against the EU rule book until we agree something different, will come in front of this Assembly for approval. And there will be repeated opportunities for the Assembly to see whether or not the agreement that we have reached is actually measuring up to that.
As to the meaningful vote, there is a second decision point coming in the whole Brexit business, because there will come a point when there will be a deal struck between the UK Government and the European Union and that will set the terms for our departure. The meaningful vote in Parliament is designed to make sure that Parliament has proper oversight of that. Whenever I've heard the First Minister talk about this, he refers to the Parliaments of the United Kingdom having oversight of that, and that says to me that the views that he expressed to the Assembly earlier have not altered.