Although the UK Government's European Union (Withdrawal) Bill doesn't actually take back existing competencies from the Assembly, there is no end date for the restriction on devolved competency created by the retained EU law model it would introduce. We, Welsh Conservatives, instead believe that any common framework in any area must be agreed and not imposed by the UK Government, and further we will support this motion on the basis that it notes only a proposal for a Welsh continuation Bill.
However, we do welcome last week's statement by the Secretary of State for Scotland, confirming that amendments to clause 11 of the Bill will be brought forward in the House of Lords, and adding,
'I regret that it has not been possible to bring forward amendments at the report stage but our commitment to improve the bill remains absolute.'
We, here, received assurance that the language used by David Mundell last week still stands.
As the Scottish Conservatives constitutional spokesperson said last weekend, 'clause 11 of the bill needs to be amended to restore the spirit of the Scotland Act.'
And obviously, by association, legislation applying here. He said: 'There is a fundamental principle on which Scottish devolution rests and has rested since its creation 20 years ago which is that everything is devolved unless it is expressly reserved.' He said, 'that is the principle that clause 11 needs to be amended to comply with and that is our position too.... It is relatively easily done. This does not have to be difficult.'
May I say that that is also the Welsh Conservatives' position here.
We also supported the External Affairs and Additional Legislation Committee's European Union (Withdrawal) Bill interim report on the legislative consent motion, including its objective 1, to remove the clause 11 restriction on the devolution settlement. And, although, despite all the work that continues on the withdrawal Bill and frameworks, the UK Government is not yet in a position to table amendments to clause 11, it's understood that the new man at the Cabinet Office, David Lidington, spoke with the First Minister on 9 January and the next day expressed disappointment that agreement had not yet been reached on amendments to devolutio aspects of the withdrawal Bill. He also said that he's committed to work to reach agreement with Welsh and Scottish Ministers and that this work will intensify. The Prime Minister also repeated that commitment at Prime Minister's questions in Westminster. It would therefore be helpful if the Cabinet Secretary could update us on the further discussions that he or the First Minister have had regarding this with both the Cabinet Office and the Welsh Office. Thank you.