I support Amendments 34 and 55 in the name of my noble friend Lord Murphy, who cannot be in his place, and Amendment 35, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh. I declare my interest as chair of the Common Frameworks Scrutiny Committee.
I start by saying how much I support Amendment 29. The noble Baroness made a powerful and explicit speech about the real, practical concerns that are now so evident in the Welsh Senedd, the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee, and the Welsh Government. The exam question for the Minister, and for the Front Bench as a whole, is whether they are prepared to legislate without the consent of the Welsh and Scottish Governments. I would very much like an answer to that question at the end of the debate—the Minister is nodding already.
12.15 pm
I shall address some of the issues raised by the common frameworks, which have already been well described by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Hope, who is also a member of the Select Committee. I will try not to repeat anything, but I want to make a couple of additional points.
At Second Reading, the noble Lord, Lord Callanan, said:
“When using the powers in the Bill, we will use the appropriate mechanisms, such as the common frameworks, to engage with the devolved Governments to allow for proper joined-up decision-making across this United Kingdom.”—[Official Report, 6/2/23; col. 1081.]
That is the whole purpose of common frameworks in many respects. I wish sincerely that that was borne out in the potential impact of this Bill. What engagement has the Minister had with the devolved Administrations, specifically on the common frameworks, which would have allowed them to raise their conviction that this is a positive way forward for the whole union and to raise their anxiety about the implications?
The irony is—and I hope this will appeal to the remaining Brexiteers in this House—that common frameworks are part of the more positive legacy of Brexit. They were created because there had to be some substitute for the complex legislation which governed the internal market. They are much better in many respects than what we had because they allow for full engagement at official and political level across the whole of the United Kingdom, and they have been very successful. In the Select Committee, we have had lots of complaints about the process, partly because Whitehall does not have the capacity to get it right and it is taking time. There have been issues about delays
and the Northern Ireland protocol and much else besides, but essentially these are highly innovative and positive arrangements which, frankly, we have the opportunity to build on. They manage the divergent interests of this country, at the same time as guaranteeing the harmony of the union in practical ways.
We heard from the noble and learned Lord, Lord Hope, about their operational capacity and the immense work that has gone into the 32 frameworks. What a bizarre collection. I think the ones he might have left out are professional services, public procurement, and the transport of radioactive substances and hazardous substances—things that are key to health and safety, environmental safety, and personal health and well-being across the United Kingdom. The common frameworks include careful dispute mechanisms which will kick in if there are particular issues, which can then be resolved at official or, ultimately, ministerial levels. It is a new infrastructure for the union, and a new dialogue with new scope.
More frameworks are being considered. They are dynamic. Despite their potential, they have already been imperilled by the internal market Act, and were salvaged in this House by an amendment laid by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Hope, which means that there are exceptions whereby they can be removed from the basic processes of the Act. Now this Bill holds a more serious danger.
Let me explain very briefly. The common frameworks have been in place since 2017. They have been the subject of intense work across Whitehall—difficult, delicate work, because of the divergence issues involved, but they are settling down. They are underpinned by hundreds of statutory instruments. The food compositional standards and labelling common framework, the animal health and welfare common framework, and the plant varieties and seeds common framework each have 50 SIs attached to them. Those SIs have been the subject of scrutiny. They interact with a range of domestic legislation. Incidentally, Defra estimates that one-third of its SIs relate to common frameworks. The reform programme in the Bill is intrinsically linked to this process. The SIs have been painfully processed and scrutinised. With the sunset clause, an innovative and successful way of binding the union pragmatically, successfully and harmoniously together is put at unnecessary risk. All of those SIs will have to be examined.
Now I could make the opposite argument. It might be easier to take out common frameworks altogether, because these SIs have been the subject of such recent review. That would be my preference, but that is not in this amendment.
We need to be very careful, because the consequences of the Bill and the instability and uncertainty it generates send a signal to the devolved Administrations: if you want to diverge, why bother now with common frameworks? The acceleration of greater divergence is a real possibility, and I believe that is the fundamental risk of common frameworks in the Bill.
We have already heard about the sunset clause. I have nothing more to add, except to ask the Minister for the third time why the Welsh and Scottish Governments were not able to modify the sunset clause themselves.
I have one other question for the Minister before I sit down. He has said that the dispute processes in the common frameworks will work. I would very much like him to explain how that will be the case if in fact, as a result of this, there is greater dispute across the union. The dispute processes set out in the frameworks and the intergovernmental committee are very specific and tailored to do this particular job.
Nobody has thought this through, and the accidental collateral damage is potentially very serious. The Minister has already said that common frameworks will be used to make REUL reform a success. If he means that, the least he can do is accept these amendments today.