The right hon. Member tempts me, but, as I was about to explain, we have a number of qualification areas in which these are devolved matters and not reserved to this place. Under the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020, the UK Government are now overruling devolved competences that were formerly in place.
The Bill does not make separate provision for devolved and reserved professions, so it applies to all regulated professions active in Scotland, whether reserved or devolved. It follows from this that, for those aspects of the Bill that affect the devolved nations’ areas of competence, special provisions should have been made to require devolved consent, which was touched on by my hon. Friend the Member for Ceredigion (Ben Lake). It was the case then and it is still the case now.
Clause 16 ensures that any power conferred on the appropriate national authority in devolved areas can be exercised by UK Ministers. There is no requirement for UK Ministers to seek the Scottish Government’s consent when exercising such powers. A Secretary of State making regulations under those powers would therefore be subject to procedure in this place rather than the Scottish Parliament, or any of the devolved Parliaments. Here we have a Bill that alters the executive competence of Scottish Ministers by enabling the Secretary of State to act in devolved areas without having consent to do so. That is entirely unnecessary, and undermines the good faith agreement between the Scottish and UK Governments on the principles of the Bill.
I listened to the Minister, and I welcome the fact that so much engagement took place, but it is clear that, despite all that engagement, there was still a lack of any willingness to shift in any way to take account of the positions of the devolved Governments. That is why I suggested that the Government take up the Scottish Government’s proposal to introduce an amendment to clause 16 to require devolved consent before UK Ministers dabbled in devolved areas. Not only have the Government rejected that perfectly reasonable proposal; they have fabricated a convenient reason to do so, arguing that the devolved Governments
“might undermine the implementation of provisions in international agreements on recognition of professional qualifications.”
6.45 pm
That is utter havers. Scottish Ministers have to comply with international agreements: it is in the ministerial code. I know that in this place that does not always mean very much, but it is a big deal north of the border. On top of that, the Scotland Act 1998 gives UK Ministers powers to ensure that Scottish Ministers comply with treaty obligations. So the Government’s stance is essentially that they cannot let the devolved nations govern in devolved areas because they might do something that they literally could not do if they tried. It is absolutely nonsensical, but that is where we are.
We should be finding areas of agreement in this Bill, but instead the Government are fabricating excuses to legislate without devolved consent. Under the Sewel convention, this Parliament will not normally legislate in devolved areas without the consent of the Scottish Parliament. The key word here is “normally”. What is abnormal about this Bill that justifies overriding the Sewel convention?