Thank you, Llywydd. We reported on the Welsh Government’s first LCM in respect of the Trade Bill on 16 March 2018, and in October 2018 we also reported on the regulations to be made under the Bill. We considered the supplementary legislative consent motion at our meeting last week. We were, of course, not in a position to take evidence from the Minister due to the tight timescale for reporting. We laid our report on the supplementary legislative consent motion yesterday, and there are a number of points that I wish to highlight.

We have noted the comments of the Welsh Government regarding the exercise of concurrent powers in clauses 1 and 2 of the Bill, and the commitments it has obtained. These commitments do, as the Minister has commented, appear to mirror the principles set out in the inter-governmental agreement on the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill. We would welcome a commitment from the Minister to either publish a document setting out these commitments in full, or to secure an appropriate amendment to the existing inter-governmental agreement.     

We do, however, draw the Assembly’s attention to the concerns that we have expressed on the differences of interpretation between this committee and the Welsh Government about the inter-governmental agreement. In particular, our concerns centre on a difference of opinion with regard to what constitutes new policy and to potential unintended consequences arising for the legislative competence of the National Assembly, some of which have already been identified.  

There are also concerns about the application of the Sewel convention as it applies to the consent of devolved legislatures in respect of UK Government Bills. The status of Sewel and the reliance on it in legislation that intrudes on devolved areas of competence is a matter of concern to which the committee is paying increasing attention. The Sewel convention provides that the UK Government will not normally legislate in devolved areas. It is our view that there is a need to clarify what this means and the extent to which it can any longer be relied upon to protect devolved competences.

For that reason, we would welcome clarification from the Minister on whether there are any exceptions to the commitment that UK Government Ministers will not normally use the powers in devolved areas without the Welsh Ministers’ consent. We ask this because such an exception is highlighted in similar requirements set out in Part 5 of the devolution guidance note relating to parliamentary and Assembly primary legislation affecting Wales.  

Standing Order 30C sets out certain requirements in circumstances where the Welsh Ministers consent to UK Ministers acting in devolved areas under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. In line with the principles that have resulted in the adoption of new commitments relating to the Trade Bill, we believe that Standing Order 30C should be amended to apply to the Trade Bill once enacted. 

We raised concerns about the scope of the regulation-making powers in the Bill in our report on the Welsh Government's original LCM and in our report on the scrutiny of regulations made under the Bill. Our main concern was that the Bill allowed UK Ministers to make regulations that amend the Government of Wales Act 2006. Any such regulations that amend the 2006 Act could modify legislative competence of the National Assembly. Further, such regulations could only be made by UK Ministers and would be laid before the UK Parliament only. Whilst such regulations would now be subject to the affirmative procedure, we do repeat the constitutional principle that the legislative competence of the National Assembly should not be modified by regulations made by UK Ministers.

While there have been assurances that regulation-making powers will not be used to modify the legislative competence of the Assembly, those assurances are, of course, not legally binding. We also note the non-legislative commitments obtained in relation to the activities of the trade remedies authority. However, there is a lack of clarity about the role of this new body and what information the Welsh Government will make available to enable the Assembly to scrutinise the activities of that authority. 

We note that the Welsh Government has not yet tabled a written statement announcing full details of the commitments secured and providing information about the operation of the trade remedies authority, and we do believe it should do so as soon as possible. Thank you, Llywydd.