Our first report expressed our concerns with the Bill. We consider that the subsidy control proposals could have—and we say this in our report—a pernicious impact on devolution and the exercise of devolved functions, particularly in ways that could limit the ability of the Welsh Government and public organisations to fund necessary projects. The potential impact of this Bill is therefore similar to that of the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020, which indeed the fifth Senedd did not consent to.

During our scrutiny, it was disappointing to learn from the evidence of the finance Minister to the Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee that inter-governmental relations, which is, of course, a prime issue of concern for us on our committee, had not been as productive as they should have been during the Bill's development. Our report expressed the hope that this does not represent a trend of the UK Government refusing to co-operate and engage constructively where legislation has the potential to undermine the devolution settlement and the Welsh Government's ability to deliver policy in devolved areas. Such an approach, we say in our report, would risk complicating further the general understanding of devolution, particularly when the existing settlement is already needlessly complex. Furthermore, it could create uncertainty for business, for public sector organisations and for local government, as well as unnecessary bureaucracy by creating bad law that is hard for citizens to understand, and that indeed sows doubt around where the boundaries of devolution lie. We therefore found the UK Government's refusal to co-operate and engage fully with the Welsh Government to be puzzling, because clearly there is much more to be gained by Governments working together constructively and finding an approach that's fair, operable and workable within the existing constitutional framework.

I will turn now to the specific clauses that are subject to the Senedd's consent. In our first report, we noted that we agreed with the Welsh Government that consent was required for clauses 63 to 69, 70 to 75 and 80 to 92 of the Bill. At the time, it was unclear to us whether the Welsh Government believed that clauses 41 and 42 also required the Senedd's consent. We therefore welcome the finance Minister's decision, and that of the economy Minister, to lay a supplementary memorandum that confirmed their belief that these clauses indeed also do require consent, and we agree with that assessment.

Our first report supported the Welsh Government's calls for amendments to be tabled in respect of a number of clauses in the Bill. It goes without saying that the Welsh Government should, for example, be provided with the appropriate powers to make subordinate legislation relevant to the Bill in areas of policy that are already devolved. We also share the Minister's frustration about the lack of detail on the face of the Bill, and we note that the UK Government has indicated that further information will be provided in secondary legislation and in a suite of guidance to follow. To that end, I'd like to highlight a recommendation we made in our first report, that the UK Government should publish draft regulations and guidance for both UK parliamentarians and Members of this Senedd to consider the details of the subsidy control regime and to better understand the potential impacts of this Bill. We therefore wrote to the Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy before Christmas seeking his views on this recommendation, but, I regret to say, we have yet to receive a response.

Our second report drew attention to the views of committees in the House of Lords about this Bill. In bringing my remarks to a close, I'd like to highlight in particular comments made by the chair of the House of Lords Common Frameworks Scrutiny Committee, Baroness Kay Andrews. She has said that the Common Frameworks Scrutiny Committee is increasingly concerned about the impact of the Bill and its interaction with common frameworks, for example, though not entirely exclusively, in relation to agricultural support. Consequently, that committee views this as

'an extremely serious matter which bears on the functioning of the Union.'

It will be no surprise that my committee shares those deep concerns regarding the interaction of the Bill with the common frameworks and its implications for devolved policy, and I hope, in putting these remarks on record, it's not only the Senedd that will note these comments, but also the relevant committees in the House of Commons and the House of Lords who take a great interest in this as well. Diolch yn fawr.