6. Statement by the Counsel General and Minister for European Transition: The UK Internal Market Bill

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:28 pm on 15 September 2020.

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Photo of Jeremy Miles Jeremy Miles Labour 6:28, 15 September 2020

Dirprwy Lywydd, I thank Delyth Jewell for that set of questions. I think the point about the speech that the former Secretary of State gave last night in Parliament drives home to me the fact that the objection is really about what we do with our powers here, not the fact of the powers themselves. So it's an objection to the kind of approach that successive Welsh Governments have taken to investment, to standards and so on—it's the things that affect people's daily lives in Wales. I can assure her that we will do everything we can as a Government to protect the rights of this place. There are a number of discussions going on internally about the scope of our capacity to act. Certainly, as you've heard me say already, we'll want to work with parties in Parliament to amend this legislation, but we'll be looking at it from a legal perspective as well.

In relation to the inter-governmental agreement, I will just say, in light of the speculation in the press, which I found very unhelpful, actually, in the last few days in relation to the repeal of the continuity Act and the inter-governmental agreement, I stand by the actions of this Government in seeking to reach that agreement with the UK Government. It has actually, broadly speaking, been complied with, and it has actually been the foundation of the common frameworks programme, which in our view is the right way to take forward resolving these questions. I would urge the UK Government to look again at the capacity of the common frameworks programme to replace what they've provided for in this Bill. I think that's a much more constructive, collaborative way forward.