, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
It's the same with the EU retained law legislation as well, that we understand that that is going to be tabled before the summer, but we'll wait and see.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Certainly, there will be a legislative consent memorandum, because we've already had the indication that the UK Government have said that this requires legislative consent. So, clearly, there are aspects to it. So, I've started reading through the Bill, and…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
—but we are aware that there are serious issues that have arisen that have been identified. We do not think that this is the best way for the UK Government going forward, but we have to wait and see how it plays out and what legal actions there may be.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, I think my initial assessment at the moment is that the appropriate course of action is that if one of the parties to the Northern Ireland protocol is in disagreement with action being taken, that the European court becomes the arbiter or the correct…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Okay. Well, our position is one where we have discouraged the UK Government from going down this particular road. We think that the best way of resolving it is through a process of negotiation. It creates a particular constitutional problem for us, I believe…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, I think the common frameworks that are operating mean that you'll have inter-governmental meetings that are taking place specifically within the individual frameworks, and the outcome of those issues that emerge will, obviously, have to be reported to…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
The answer is 'yes'. It's probably going to be a rather large black book, perhaps, by then, but the answer is 'yes'. And this was—. The Interministerial Standing Committee meeting that was due to have taken place last week, this was one of the items that was…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, it would work within the framework. Within the framework, there would be an inter-governmental meeting, there would be one—. Our team would say, 'This is what we want to do. We want to actually diverge from the framework.' There's a requirement, I…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, I do, because what it means is that you will end up with produce coming that may be in contravention of the genetic modification policy of either Scotland or of Wales, for example, but there will be no way of actually identifying what that actually was…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, that's the question, isn't it? The common frameworks are a co-operative arrangement between four Governments on how they're going to work and regulate the internal market—where there might be exclusions, where there might be divergence, et cetera, to…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
No. I think that's where we are. I've seen the letter from the Minister about setting out our objections to and concerns about that. I understand that Scotland have a similar concern about that, and this will be—. This could potentially could be one of those…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, there has been analysis and, of course, the Minister has looked at it and I think has written to their counterpart at UK Government on this, setting out the concerns that we have, and that is that, if the Bill were to go through in its current format…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Yes, just to say, on the issue of exclusions within the common frameworks and to exclude certain items from the common frameworks, I think the—. Our position, of course, is that we have only consented on a without prejudice basis, because we don't accept that…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Yes. Well, the first thing is, of course, that it's not leave to appeal on a decision on the merits of the case; it's a question of whether the appropriate way of doing it is whether the court is in a position to actually take a decision on the legal point…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Yes, absolutely.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
—the Finance: Interministerial Standing Committee, of course, is an entity in itself, rather than part of the inter-governmental arrangements. So, the Treasury certainly has its own status within this. I mean, the issue of HS2, ultimately, isn't it, is a…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, that's a difficult one, isn't it, because—
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, I will bring someone in, in a minute, but the starting process, really, is that the secretariat needs to be able to do what is necessary to resource and support the inter-governmental arrangements. Whether that is by topping all the resources into a…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
—with progress being made. But, the evaluation of what that progress is—. I'm sounding like an episode of Yes, Minister now, aren't I? [Laughter.] It's too early to say.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, it's in a formative state at the moment, with progress—
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
As I say, it's embryonic. There is progress being made.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
There we are. The Finance: Interministerial Standing Committee—the acronyms grow and grow as we go through—has met. I think that it's had the first meeting with the Minister for Finance and Local Government. There were still issues being discussed, really…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Okay. [Laughter.] Well, I will try and make your day via some good news, and that is that the Interministerial Standing Committee has had its first meeting and is looking forward to its second one, belatedly after two postponements. It is discussing a lot of…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
It's a very, very good question and it's a very difficult one, because the scale of issues around alignment are so absolutely enormous. If we were to set up a body that was to do nothing but look for changes in EU law, et cetera, you'd have a building with…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, if it relates to a devolved area and we do not want that changed, then the status doesn't change, does it? I am not completely clear what UK Government Ministers mean when they say they want to change the status of EU law. Sometimes, they're talking…
