The United Kingdom Internal Market Bill

Part of 2. Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for European Transition (in respect of his law officer responsibilities) – in the Senedd at 2:32 pm on 20 October 2020.

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Photo of Helen Mary Jones Helen Mary Jones Plaid Cymru 2:32, 20 October 2020

I'm grateful to the Counsel General for his reply, which, of course, builds on an earlier reply from the First Minister to Adam Price. The Counsel General will be aware of the new academic report from Cardiff University's Wales Governance Centre, and other partners, on the impact on regulations, particularly after Brexit, and the potential effect on the territorial scope of devolved legislation. Now, the Counsel General mentions potential amendments, and the First Minister mentioned those to Adam Price, but isn't it the case that, given the size of the Conservative majority, the amendments could pass in the House of Lords, but they are likely to fail, are they not, when they get back to the House of Commons? And can I ask the Counsel General: will he consider having discussions with other devolved administrations about a legal challenge to this pernicious piece of legislation, if the amendment process isn't successful? I would suggest to him that these are processes that need to go on in parallel, because once the amendments have fallen, a lot of time will have passed, and it may be more difficult then to mount a formal legal challenge, if such a thing is possible.