8. Legislative Consent Motion on the Trade (Disclosure of Information) Bill

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:51 pm on 16 December 2020.

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Photo of David Lloyd David Lloyd Plaid Cymru 6:51, 16 December 2020

I'm pleased to take part in this debate. Now, we are talking about legislative consent for the Trade (Disclosure of Information) Bill, not the actual full Trade Bill, because, as we've heard from the Counsel General, events have overtaken and there's a particular timetable with the end of the year approaching, which means that we are debating a Bill here that is largely technical in nature, as we've heard from both the Counsel General and the Chair of the legislation committee. Now, as a member of both the committees—both the legislation committee and the external affairs committee—I am grateful to both of those committees for involvement in the deliberations both on the Trade Bill and obviously on this LCM for the Trade (Disclosure of Information) Bill today. 

Now, as has been pointed out by the Chair of the legislation committee in his detailed analysis, which I share, yes, this particular Bill is just about disclosure of information and the free sharing of information between Governments, but, obviously, as has been alluded to, the provisions of this Bill are dependent at least in part on assurances to Welsh Government given by despatch-box promises at Westminster. Now, I remain very critical of such despatch-box promises, as I outlined last week in the LCM debate on the internal market Bill. I've said it several times: the Sewel convention, it seems to be forgotten about; inter-governmental agreements are not legally binding, they're unenforceable, and despatch-box promises even more so. It is just a Minister standing up in Westminster and promising. I would contend, as the Chair of legislation has said, that they are in fact completely unenforceable. It has been said once, it also—we are dependent, or Welsh Government is dependent, on Ministers in Westminster reiterating that despatch-box promise again, and we look forward to confirmation of that. But, in general, despatch-box promises are completely unenforceable, dependent on trust in a Government in another country. So, as a result, Plaid Cymru will abstain on this legislative consent motion. Diolch, Llywydd.