The United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2021

Part of 2. Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution – in the Senedd at 2:43 pm on 30 June 2021.

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Photo of Mick Antoniw Mick Antoniw Labour 2:43, 30 June 2021

Well, thank you for that. And, firstly, on the statement on the legal action itself, we of course await a court hearing. I did issue—. As soon as I had the notification, I issued a written statement, which you've had, to keep Members informed, and, of course, I will update, as appropriate, as time proceeds.

On the issue of the powers of the internal market Act, yes, I think the request you make is a perfectly reasonable one, that we need to be alert to the way in which those powers are being used, and powers, in fact, in a slightly broader range around the internal market Act—not just those, but the way in which, out of the post-Brexit legislation, the issues of the way in which the emergence of increased concurrent powers, the way in which despatch-box agreements, are being used to, or have been used to, actually bypass sometimes the Sewel agreement, the actual status of Sewel and so on.

But the most recent example, of course, that we're all aware of is when the UK Government published its plan for Wales—a plan that, in fact, breaks all the commitments that were given that Wales would not be a penny worse off as a result of leaving the EU. That was action that was taken, using the powers of the internal market Act, without any engagement with Welsh Government whatsoever, despite the very clear mandate we have in respect of the devolution statutes, the intention of Parliament itself in terms of what the powers and responsibilities of this Parliament actually are. So, that was the first major exercise of those powers, which is ongoing, but there are many more, and it is my intention to comprehensively look at not only the internal market Act but all those other pieces of legislation where there are issues of their relationship to the status and integrity of this place and the way in which they impact on our ability to deliver for the people of Wales, particularly in the areas that we're very concerned about—in terms of food standards, in terms of environmental standards, which are clearly areas that are likely to be impacted, potentially, by UK Government trade deals.