Article 50

Part of 2. Questions to the Counsel General and Brexit Minister (in respect of his Brexit Minister responsibilities) – in the Senedd at 3:03 pm on 13 February 2019.

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Photo of Jeremy Miles Jeremy Miles Labour 3:03, 13 February 2019

I thank the Member for that supplementary question. I referred to a report by the Institute for Government a few weeks ago that describes the challenge in implementing or bringing into law the Bill that is currently in front of the House of Commons in the event that there's no extension sought to the article 50 process. Whatever your view on Brexit, the practical challenges of doing that are absolutely clear, and I repeat the call that the Prime Minister should seek an extension at the earliest possible opportunity.

In relation to the practical point that the Member raises about the impact on Wales of a failure to get that primary legislation over the line in Parliament, I would just say, firstly, that the purpose of the legislative deficiencies programme that we've been undertaking for many, many months at this point is in order to ensure that the statute book remains consistent on the first day after Brexit. So, we've been planning on the basis of a 'no deal' from the outset in relation to that. So, the Member's raised previously with me questions around food standards, as she just has done now—chlorinated chicken and that sort of situation. The purpose of the statutory instruments programme we've had in place is to ensure that, as of day one after exit, EU law applies in Wales as the day before, effectively, but it's incorporated into the law of the United Kingdom. So, from that point of view, that has been the objective throughout, but there will be, if it becomes the case that not all that legislation has been passed by the point at which the UK leaves the European Union, there will need to be a rapid programme of statutory instruments to correct some of those issues in relation to other matters. But the sorts of things that she is asking about in her question have been the sorts of things that the deficiencies programme has been aiming to tackle over the last few months.