Diolch, Llywydd. I thought it would be helpful to update Members on both recent developments and prospects in relation to legislation arising from our exit from the European Union. 

I'll firstly consider the matter of the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 and the implications for the Sewel convention. Members will recall that, on the twenty-first of last month, the Senedd followed the Welsh Government’s recommendation in refusing consent for that legislation. As has been rehearsed already in the Senedd, the reasons for this were principally constitutional—the threat that this legislation poses to the Senedd’s competence and the Welsh Government’s capacity to influence the forthcoming negotiations that will have serious consequences for devolved policy areas.

We did all we could to improve the Bill, both before its introduction and then working closely with Members of the House of Lords to put forward amendments that would have made it acceptable from a devolution perspective, but, ultimately, we could not persuade the UK Government.

Our decision here in the Senedd mirrored similar votes in the Northern Ireland Assembly and in the Scottish Parliament—the first time that all three legislatures had refused consent for a single piece of UK parliamentary legislation. Notwithstanding this, the UK Government pushed the Bill to Royal Assent with Parliament overriding the views of the three legislatures. This could have developed into a major constitutional crisis, threatening the foundations of devolution. However, in correspondence, the Secretary of State for the Department for Exiting the European Union described the circumstances as 'singular, specific and exceptional', and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster described them as 'unique'. There were similar comments by Lord Callanan, Minister of State at DExEU, in the Third Reading in the House of Lords and in a written statement issued by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

I subsequently wrote to both Stephen Barclay and Michael Gove, recognising these encouraging signs that the UK Government recognised the graveness of this step and was interpreting the Sewel 'not normally' as 'only in the most exceptional circumstances'. On this basis, I reminded them that we had called, in 'Reforming our Union', for codification of the convention by setting out the circumstances and criteria under which the UK Government might, in extremis, proceed with its legislation, notwithstanding a lack of devolved legislative consent, and called for the UK Government to engage in a further discussion of this. So, while the UK Government’s decision to proceed with the withdrawal agreement Bill without the consent of the devolved legislatures is of significant concern, it would appear that the UK Government and ourselves believe it should be ring-fenced as a special case, and we now need to build on that.

Moving on, Members will be aware that almost all EU law continues to apply in the UK during the transition period, but the Welsh Government has been considering whether powers to keep pace with EU legislation beyond the transition period are practical and necessary. We do not at this point see an urgent need to bring forward a Senedd Bill containing powers to keep pace with EU legislation at this stage. There are a number of reasons for this.