My Lords, I will speak to the amendment tabled in my name and those of the noble Baronesses, Lady Finlay of Llandaff and Lady Hayman of Ullock. I am most grateful for their support.
The point raised by the amendment goes to a very important constitutional issue. We are not discussing what the levelling-up mission should be but the allocation of responsibilities. It takes us to the heart of the devolution settlements. I have used the word “devolution”, and part of the problem arises from the fact that this Bill deals with devolution—there is a whole section on it—meaning devolution to English councils. Maybe the person who started to think about this Bill forgot that devolution in relation to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is something completely different. I think they failed to recall, first of all, that primary legislative powers in respect of many areas to be covered were passed to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and the Governments of those countries. I use the word “Governments”, because I think this Government have now got away from the Johnsonian phrase of “Administrations”—no doubt an attempt to belittle them. These Governments have responsibility in very important areas.
I wonder if it might be sensible, for the future, to distinguish between the two senses of the word devolution that this Bill has introduced. Maybe we should talk about “home rule” as part of the union for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, or maybe we should talk about it as “national devolution”. We need to distinguish it from English devolution, because that is where the muddle has occurred.
The Minister helpfully sent us the list of subject matters that are to be covered by the mission statements taken from the White Paper. It is quite interesting to look down them and see how they deal with the problem that arises in relation to areas where policy has been partially or completely devolved to the nations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. One feels that someone, at some stage, should have understood this.
On education, the White Paper says:
“By 2030, the number of primary school children achieving the expected standard in reading, writing and maths will have significantly increased. In England, this will mean 90% of children will achieve the expected standard, and the percentage of children meeting the expected standard in the worst performing areas will have increased by over a third.”
But what of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland? Plainly, at that stage, the person who drafted this had their thinking cap on, because they realised they could not do it. But then one goes on to look at well-being:
“By 2030, well-being will have improved in every area of the UK, with the gap between top performing and other areas closing.”
As a statement of motherhood and apple pie, I cannot think of anything better, but the draftsman has plainly forgotten that Wales has its own primary legislation on well-being.
One could go through all aspects of the White Paper and pull out the details, but I raise these points because there is here the issue of how you deal with wishing to make statements that are applicable across
the UK while taking into account that the UK Government have no power over certain areas—they are completely or substantially devolved.
As I understand it, the authors of the White Paper—here I think the problem may have arisen—did not understand devolution. They make the statement, at page 121 of the White Paper, that:
“Unless otherwise specified, the missions apply across the whole of the UK.
But then they go on to say that:
“Devolution settlements mean the policy levers”—
extraordinary words to describe the devolution of substantial areas of government—
“for achieving aspects of these missions are devolved to administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Because levelling up outcomes for citizens needs close collaboration between all levels of government, a period of consultation on the missions will be undertaken with devolved administrations. The best way forward on sharing learning and comparing progress in these areas will be agreed with devolved administrations.”
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What this does not grapple with—and in consequence the Bill does not grapple with—is on one hand the desire to have a levelling-up map across the whole of the UK and on the other the essential need to accept that, in the case of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the areas of policy that are devolved must be the subject of agreement with the Governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Without such agreement, there is a real prospect that these mission statements will conflict completely with the Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland Acts of 1998. These, being constitutional Acts in primary legislation, make clear where the responsibility lies.
This is a very important aspect. We are at a time when circumstances show that we may be able to make a great step in holding our union together. I welcome what the current Prime Minister has done in making it clear he wants to uphold devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and to work constructively with their Governments. One can see that the events of last week have given a real opportunity for this to happen. So it seems to me that this is a golden opportunity for this Government to say, “Okay, we understand devolution”—that would be a great step forward—and, secondly, “We will seek agreement with the Governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as to how they think there should be missions and what their targets would be, bearing in mind that for those countries that is their responsibility”. If we do not do that, we are throwing away a great opportunity and endangering the union. As the revised legislative consent memorandum laid before the Senedd says, at paragraph 51:
“It is not for UK Government Ministers to set targets for these matters in Wales”.
On that, it is quite right, as a matter of law.
I should hope that there would be co-operation and agreement, and I am not going to get embroiled in who said what to whom. It is for the Minister to tell us what is being done to seek agreement. Where are we going on this? Are we going to have what my amendment proposes—namely, that these statements will not be
made in respect of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland unless there is the consent of the devolved Administrations and their legislatures?
If we do not get that, we are plainly into Sewel territory. I think we ought to pause and reflect where we are going with the union. There is this Bill, and there will soon be the retained EU law Bill and the strikes Bill; all contain serious issues in relation to the Sewel convention. We are getting close to the position where it can be said that the Sewel convention is being so undermined that it really is not a convention any longer.
I ask the Government to consider very carefully where we have got to and where they are taking us. The Bill gives them the opportunity to say, “Yes, we acknowledge the fact that, in effect, there is home rule—something completely different from what English councils have—and we will work with the legislatures. We will agree what should be done in a way that will show that this Government are capable and enthusiastic about maintaining the union by accepting we have devolution, where policy powers in these significant areas covered by the Bill were transferred.” That is what my amendment seeks to do.