It is important to be clear on this point. The scrutiny of an LCM does not give Senedd Members the same rights or opportunities for scrutiny when compared with a Welsh Bill laid before this Senedd. The fact that the Welsh Government laid further supplementary LCMs on Friday and yesterday afternoon that are relevant to today's debate provides a clear example of the limitations placed on scrutiny during the legislative consent process.

The Minister also wrote to our committee yesterday afternoon in relation to the fourth LCM, and she reiterated the importance of the Bill. It is, therefore, disappointing that the Minister's letter also advises that the Welsh Government is still analysing further amendments made at the House of Lords Report Stage, even with this motion being considered today. 

There has been extremely limited time made available to review the fourth LCM, but it would appear that the Bill now provides Welsh Ministers with further powers; it would appear that the Secretary of State has taken an additional concurrent power to make regulations in a devolved area. Proper scrutiny would have allowed us to investigate with the Minister the reasoning for these last-minute changes. Given the importance of the Bill for Welsh farming, this situation is unsatisfactory. 

I'd like to move on to the matter of a Welsh Bill. We have been concerned, as has Mike Hedges and his committee in their report, that the Welsh Government has not introduced its own Bill for scrutiny in the Senedd. The Minister told us and the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee on many occasions that there was insufficient time for such a Bill. However, two years have passed since the original UK Agriculture Bill was introduced to the UK Parliament. We acknowledge that hindsight is very easy and, perhaps, unforgiving, but we should reflect on whether we would have been in a better position if a Welsh Bill had been pursued from the outset.

We do acknowledge that, following concerns we expressed about the legislative approach adopted, a sunset clause has been included in the Bill and powers to permit the Welsh Ministers to operate or transition to new schemes have been removed. Our January 2019 report also highlighted a general concern with the delegated powers contained within the original Bill. It is disappointing that information we requested about delegated powers in our report published in May of this year was not forthcoming in the second LCM laid in June, and that we've had to wait until the third LCM, laid last Friday, for a list of the provisions in the Bill that contain powers for Welsh Ministers to make subordinate legislation. However, I note that the justification for taking each power was not included, as requested.

Moving on to another important issue, Members are aware of the disagreement between the Welsh and UK Governments over the WTO—the World Trade Organization—provisions in the Bill, and whether consent should have been requested. During our scrutiny of the original version of the Bill, the Minister told us that clause 26, as it was then, was a red-line issue for the Welsh Government. However, the Minister also told us that the issue may be resolved by means of an inter-governmental agreement. Now, we recognise that such agreements are made between Governments. However, entering into them as a means of resolving issues within a UK Bill that requires the Senedd's consent, and then not making that agreement publicly available in a timely manner, minimises the ability of the Senedd and its committees to fully scrutinise the implications of that UK Bill for Welsh communities.

Our reports on the LCMs for the original Bill, and our first report published in May on the current Bill, detailed our concerns with the use of the bilateral agreement related to what are now clauses 40 to 42 in the current Bill. In our July report on the second LCM, we noted that the UK Government now considers that the Senedd's consent is required for these clauses. Our July report made three corresponding recommendations. We asked the Minister to provide detailed information on the UK Government's revised position; we also asked the Minister to provide us with the detail of the agreement reached with the Secretary of State on the exercise of the regulation-making powers in those clauses. The Minister wrote to us on 11 September. However, the response does not provide the clear, detailed information that we requested.

During our consideration of the first LCM for the original version of the Bill, the Minister suggested that the UK Agriculture Bill supports devolution, a view that we did not and we do not share. Today we are debating whether or not to permit the UK Parliament to legislate on Wales's behalf in a very crucial area of policy. Our committees have also undertaken scrutiny of LCMs for the UK fisheries, environment and trade Bills. In each of our reports on these important Bills, we have highlighted the same or similar concerns. While we welcome the steps the Welsh Government has taken to address some of our concerns within the UK Agriculture Bill, giving consent to another Parliament to legislate on these important matters is a difficult decision and one that should certainly not be taken lightly. Thank you, acting Llywydd.