My Lords, contrary to what the Minister said in his introduction, the Subsidy Control Bill is yet another step towards centralising power at Westminster. Even after 20 years of devolution, the UK Government do not seem to understand—or, perhaps more accurately, do not support—the purpose of devolution.
The summary of the Bill provided by the Minister states that the UK is no longer bound by bureaucratic and burdensome EU state aid rules. The Bill introduces
equally bureaucratic and burdensome rules, excludes the devolved Governments from having a role in UK-wide policies and prevents them from developing their own policies on subsidies in their own economies. The Minister said that this gives freedoms, but those freedoms are constrained by the UK Government’s policies rather than by the devolved Governments’ policies.
The UK Government claim that they have had discussions with the devolved Administrations, but we heard from the noble Baroness, Lady Humphreys, that both the Welsh and Scottish Governments state they have had no opportunity to engage on the details of the Bill. Last Thursday the Government published a paper, Review on Intergovernmental Relations. Can the Minister explain why the Bill and the United Kingdom Internal Market Act were imposed on the devolved Administrations in advance of the new arrangements outlined in that paper?
There are many examples of how the Bill disregards devolution, and I will touch on a few. Clause 10, which defines and explains streamlined subsidies, states that only Ministers of the Crown may make streamlined subsidy schemes. Given that the regime impacts on areas of devolved responsibility, Ministers from devolved Governments should be able to lay such schemes before their own Parliaments. Clause 31, dealing with cooling off and mandatory referrals, should allow Scottish and Welsh Ministers to overrule such standstill requirements if they affect areas of devolved responsibility or where the devolved Government’s policy commitments may be delayed.
Clause 79 states that
“the Secretary of State must consult such persons as the Secretary of State considers appropriate.”
Can the Minister explain why, in the guidance on the practical application of the principles covered in Schedules 1, 2 and 3, the devolved Ministers are not given an explicit role in mandatory engagement? As the Bill is currently drafted, the Secretary of State is not even required to talk to the devolved Governments if he or she does not deem it appropriate, let alone take their positions into account.
Can the Minister explain why the UK Government have decided to include agriculture in this Bill? The WTO and the trade and co-operation agreement have separate subsidy regimes for agriculture. The devolved Governments should be entitled to use subsidies in the most appropriate way to meet their particular needs in relation to agriculture, which will inevitably differ across the nations.
Schedule 2 impacts on devolved areas of energy and the environment. Different nations have the right to develop different priorities, particularly in setting climate change goals. Subsidies may play an important role in achieving these goals.
The Scottish Government’s response to legislative consent argues that they are concerned that Schedule 3 impacts on devolved areas of economic development and, potentially, other areas of devolved competence. Can the Minister explain what the point of devolution is if the elected Parliaments are unable to develop their own priorities, policies and economies according to the platforms on which they were elected?
We started down the road of devolution while part of the EU. If that had not been the case, there would of necessity have been discussions about how the four nations shared power. If the UK is to stay together—that is a big if at times—it will have to involve a change in relationship that goes beyond the steps outlined in the review of intergovernmental relations. It requires finding a way of sharing sovereignty between the nations, but there is still little evidence that this Government understand that.
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