Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:51 pm on 20 October 2020.
Well, Llywydd, the leader of Plaid Cymru is absolutely right to point to the threats posed to Welsh businesses, to Welsh livelihoods and, indeed, to the powers of the Senedd by this Bill. And Members who don't agree with that don't need to listen to the leader of Plaid Cymru or, indeed, to me; they could take note of, as Adam Price said, the letter published yesterday in the Financial Times, signed by the Archbishop of Wales, the Most Reverend John Davies, which points to the damage to the United Kingdom's reputation of that Bill, the moral hazard that is involved in breaking international law, and the threat that it poses to the United Kingdom through the way in which it rides roughshod over the settled devolution arrangements, endorsed, in Wales's case, in two successive referendums. And if there are Members who don't wish to take their advice from those with spiritual credentials, they simply need to read the report of the House of Lords Constitution Committee, which once again urges the Government to withdraw the clauses that are are an assault on devolution, to rely, as we urge the Government to rely, on the work that has gone on between us all to develop common frameworks. We believe in resolving the problems, we believe in a level playing field, but we believe that those problems should be agreed in their solution rather than imposed on the rest of us.
Our legal advice, Llywydd, at this point, is focused on crafting amendments, which we have published and hope to see laid in the House of Lords, because we think that there are still parliamentary opportunities to right the wrongs that this Bill brings about, both to the devolution settlement and to the way in which the United Kingdom's standing would be damaged in the world.