Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. The committee considered the statutory instrument consent memorandum for the European Union Withdrawal (Consequential Modifications) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 at our meeting on 9 November, and we laid our report on 12 November. We noted that the objective of the regulations is to ensure that the UK statute book works coherently and effectively, following the end of the transition period. The regulations, as has been stated, aim to achieve this objective by amending the Interpretation Act 1978 and the equivalent interpretation Acts passed by the devolved legislatures, including the Legislation (Wales) Act 2019, passed by the Senedd last year, in relation to the interpretation of references to relevant separation agreement law.

The regulations also amend the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, to provide for how existing references to EU instruments that form part of relevant separation agreement law and existing non-ambulatory references to direct EU legislation should be read following the end of the transition period. The regulations also make new interpretation provisions in the light of the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020, to remove uncertainty about which version of an EU instrument applies. In addition, they make consequential amendments to the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (Consequential Modifications and Repeals and Revocations) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019.

Now, Members may appreciate that this sounds a complex task, and it is. On this point, and before closing, I would like to add a note of caution and concern regarding how complicated the interpretation rules for the Welsh and UK laws have become as a result of these regulations, and as a result of EU exit more generally. This is not a political statement, it's a fact of exiting the EU and disentangling over 40 years of law.

My final comments relate to the approach being taken by the Welsh Government to the Senedd granting consent to the UK Government to make a statutory instrument that amends primary legislation in a devolved area. This is an area that has concerned the committee on a number of occasions now. Our committee has, for more than two years, consistently raised concerns with the Welsh Government about its handling of statutory instrument consent motions. We welcome the Welsh Government's decision to bring forward a motion today in relation to these relevant regulations being made by the UK Government. However, the Welsh Government is choosing which instruments are to be subject to the consent process and those that are not. This means that in many cases, the Welsh Ministers are agreeing to the UK Government amending primary legislation in devolved areas and consent for that decision is not being provided by the Senedd. In the vast majority of cases, we are finding ourselves in the position where the Welsh Government is saying that the only way consent from the Senedd may be sought is where a Senedd Member intervenes. We again repeat that, in the view of the committee, this is neither appropriate nor within the spirit of Standing Order 30A and it unnecessarily draws the executive into conflict with the legislature. We will be writing on this matter again to the Llywydd to seek a resolution of this important constitutional matter. Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd.