In a crowded field, the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill may be one of the worst pieces of legislation to come out of Westminster in living memory. By setting arbitrary and unrealistic time frames for the removal of retained EU law from the domestic statute book, regardless of its actual practical effectiveness, this UK Government has once again prioritised its reckless ideological compulsions ahead of responsible governance. It is ill conceived, impractical, and will cost taxpayers tens of millions of pounds, all because of the Tory party's irrational hatred of anything connected to the EU.

Rushing through the review of retained EU law runs the considerable risk of allowing a wide range of vital regulations on areas such as employment rights, environmental standards, food quality, health and safety, and animal welfare, to simply drop off the statute book without adequate replacement. This is the deregulatory race to the bottom that we all, on these benches, feared Brexit would precipitate. Are these consequences by design or just a good old-fashioned Tory party fiasco? You can make your own minds up about that.

As a matter of principle, Plaid Cymru is wholly opposed to the use of LCMs. Decisions affecting devolution in Wales should always, without exception, be made in full by the Senedd. What are the full implications of this Bill? The truth is we don't know yet. During his appearance before the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee last year, Lord Callanan of the UK Government admitted that the full extent of the Bill would not become apparent before its passing. While the Welsh Government is now undertaking its own exercise to identify Welsh-specific retained EU law, the task will inevitably consume a considerable amount of time, energy and resource that could be far better spent actually addressing the priorities of the people of Wales.

An idea of the scale of the resource implication for the civil service came from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which admitted spending £600,000 on staffing costs alone in just two months as part of the review of the Bill, despite holding responsibility for only 318 pieces of retained EU law. With this in mind, I would like to know the Welsh Government's current estimate of the resource demands, both in terms of cost and staffing, that arise from the ongoing review of Welsh-specific retained EU law.

Another troubling aspect of this Bill is its concentration of powers in the hands of Ministers at the expense of proper parliamentary scrutiny. This is, of course, apparent in terms of the power dynamic between Westminster and Welsh Government, given the fact that the Bill opens the door for UK Ministers to unilaterally legislate in devolved areas. With good reason, therefore, this Bill can be regarded as further evidence of this Tory Government's centralising tendencies and predisposition for treating the devolved settlement with contempt.

Yet again, taking back control means, in reality, the clawing back of power away from Wales and towards Westminster. So, it's not just the public finances that the Tory Government is seeking to take from us. Although we acknowledge the fact that Welsh Government did not seek these powers in the first place, it is nevertheless essential that the Welsh Government exerts every effort to ensure that the bad practices that have become par for the course for this Tory Government do not creep into our democracy here in Wales.

To close, I ask this: has the Welsh Government made any recommendations to the UK Government regarding the strengthening of Senedd oversight over the powers granted to Ministers through the retained EU law Bill? Diolch yn fawr.