Environmental Decisions after Brexit

Part of 2. Questions to the Counsel General and Brexit Minister (in respect of his law officer responsibilities) – in the Senedd at 2:22 pm on 2 April 2019.

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Photo of Jeremy Miles Jeremy Miles Labour 2:22, 2 April 2019

Well, I'm certainly happy to write to the Member with more detail, but as he will know, one of the tasks in which we have been engaged for many, many months is the task of ensuring that the statute book, which contains much of the legislation that he is referring to—the European statute book—becomes part of the Welsh statute book, if you like, the UK statute book, and that has been operating on a 'no deal' basis from the start. The point of that, as he may recall, is to ensure that as of the first day after we leave the European Union the rights that exist in law are preserved, if you like. So, that is the intention of that exercise. Obviously, leaving the European Union will mean that we will lose the role of the EU Commission and its oversight role, and, clearly, one of the objectives that we are working on at the moment is ascertaining how best to put in place arrangements in Wales that enable a Government to be held to account.

There are discussions ongoing and have been for some time between the Minister for the environment and UK counterparts in relation to some of these arrangements. Legislation is being proposed at a UK-wide level, but the landscape here in Wales in terms of environmental protection is very different in many ways, as I know the Member knows very well. We have the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015; we have our own environment Act here and other specific legislation. So, the task is to ensure that the arrangements that we have here in Wales recognise the different landscape within which we already operate—we would describe it as a more protective landscape—and there will be an opportunity to ensure that members of the public can contribute to our thinking in relation to that during the consultation period, which closes on 9 June, and I'd encourage the Member—all Members—and members of the public to engage fully in that process to inform the Welsh Government's views as fully as possible.