5. Legislative Consent Motion on the Environment Bill

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:10 pm on 28 September 2021.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 5:10, 28 September 2021

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Just to start by thanking Members for their considered, wide-ranging comments and observations on the LCM today. As I said in my opening remarks, this Bill does allow us to progress our ambitious programme for government, where environmental objectives require new primary legislation. 

Just to address a few of the points that were raised today, and in particular the one raised by Llyr in his role as Chair of the committee, I was very grateful to the committee for giving me the opportunity to come and give evidence in person and for the set of questions that were asked. We did work very hard to get the response back to the committee as soon as possible. On recommendation 2 in particular, which he singled out, just to be very clear, we are establishing the commitment to write to the relevant policy committee to inform them of our intention to consent, and we absolutely are determined to make sure that the Senedd will be allowed to express a view before the Minister gives consent. So, there's no intention here to remove the Senedd from the ability to scrutinise legislation. I entirely accept that the Senedd has that role, rightly and properly, and that it performs that role well and that we want it to do so, to make sure that the legislation is the best it can be for the people of Wales. I think a number of people made that point, and I just wanted to express my vehement agreement with it. 

And then just to say that, of course, we also agree that, as I said in my opening remarks, primary legislation in devolved areas should of course be enacted by the Senedd. But, sometimes, it is sensible and advantageous to seek provisions in a UK Bill with the consent of the Senedd, and that's why we're here today. In particular, we want to emphasise the need for co-ordination across the UK for some of the schemes that are being entered into as part of this Bill, in particular the extended producer responsibility and the deposit-return schemes. We have, as Members will know, a very porous border in Wales, and a very large number of people cross that border on a daily basis, in both directions, numerous times. We want them to be able to hold producers to account that produce their goods in Wales and sell them in England and that produce their goods in England and sell them in Wales. We also want people to be able to return their bottles purchased in Wales in England, and vice versa. It is extremely important that we have that level of co-ordination in order to make sure that people can do the right thing. 

Members of this Senedd will have heard me very often say that it's the Government's platform to ensure that doing the right thing for each citizen of Wales, in terms of the climate and nature emergencies, is what we're supposed to do, and what this co-ordination allows is for people to do the right thing when they live close to the border, and that is a very large proportion of the population of Wales. So, I think that is a very good reason for using the UK Bill in this instance, to ensure that co-ordination across the piece. 

On the other things that people were very concerned about, I accept the concern. We have, of course, taken steps to remove the concurrent use of powers, where at all possible, and in bringing forward Welsh legislation. And I assure Members that the Government has every intention of doing just that. So, given the need for co-ordination, given the need to make sure that Wales stays in line with the very best environmental practice, and given the need for the Senedd to give its consent and the very good scrutiny that both committees have already given the Bill and the extremely excellent contributions made by their Chairs today, I would recommend that the Senedd agrees the LCM in this instance. Diolch yn fawr.