Diolch yn fawr, Dame Rosie. It is an honour to follow the hon. Member for Stone (Sir William Cash). I rise to speak to amendment 9 to clause 54, which I tabled with my Plaid Cymru colleagues and the hon. Members for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (Drew Hendry), for North Down (Stephen Farry), for Belfast South (Claire Hanna) and for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas). This amendment seeks to rectify the anti-democratic nature of this shabby Bill by giving the devolved legislatures the opportunity to hold a vote on the Bill before its provisions become law. It would also ensure that no additional powers were reserved to Westminster through the Bill unless the devolved legislatures of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland gave their explicit consent.
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In its current form, the Bill prevents the devolved legislatures from legislating effectively by requiring regulatory standards in one part of the UK to be automatically accepted in others, even if those standards were to be lower. It also gives the Westminster Government spending powers in entirely devolved areas without so much as consulting the devolved Governments. The Bill also explicitly modifies the devolution settlement by reserving new powers over state aid to Westminster and by restricting the devolved Parliaments from amending the Act by either primary or secondary legislation.
Members across the Committee would concede that the Bill, whether they agree with it or not, does indeed make sweeping changes to the current devolution settlement, which has been endorsed by the people of Wales in two successive referenda. It does so without even giving the devolved Parliaments the right to voice their concerns—an egregious example of this Government’s contempt for devolution and their desire to centralise. I would challenge those on the Government Benches on whether they have any basis upon which they can justify such a rolling back of our devolved powers, because so far, I have only heard bluster, spin and obfuscation—a wall of sound to conceal the reality of what is actually being conducted here.
If the Minister is to be believed, there is no threat to devolution contained in the Bill. Indeed, the only threat that the UK Government see is an abstract, hypothetical threat to free-flowing trade between the nations of the UK. Plaid Cymru’s position has been clear from the outset. We make no apology for fighting for Wales to run her own affairs and set her own laws and regulations as an independent nation, but we also recognise that, for our economy to thrive, free-flowing trade must continue. That is why we have supported the principle of UK-wide frameworks, as long as those frameworks
are collectively agreed between the four Governments of the United Kingdom and fully respect the existing devolution settlements. That is what mutual respect looks like—not a power grab, but an agreement on principle among equals. This Bill goes precisely and directly against that principle by overriding common frameworks, allowing Westminster to change standards across the UK and allowing this Government to spend according to their own wishes in entirely devolved areas. How can we, 23 years since the people of Wales first voted for devolution, justify such a situation?
To close, I would like to quote the First Minister of Wales, who has said:
“This is an enormous power grab—undermining powers that have belonged to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland for over 20 years.”
He went on to say that the Welsh Government will
“oppose it every step of the way.”
Additionally, the Counsel General for Wales today told my Plaid Cymru colleague Delyth Jewell that he would “welcome” cross-party co-operation in Parliament, as we saw between Labour, Plaid and other parties in the Senedd last week, to reject the principles of the Bill. I therefore trust that all Labour Members representing Welsh constituencies will support Plaid Cymru’s amendments this evening. Anything less would be an abject abdication of their responsibility to their colleagues in government, let alone the people of Wales. Nobody would want to say that Labour was throwing Labour under a bus.
I propose to press my amendment when it is called, to give all the Parliaments of the UK a say on this disastrous Bill, and I trust that all Members representing Welsh constituencies will join Plaid Cymru by voting to defend Welsh powers for Wales—for the people they represent—in the Lobby this evening.