It is also being imposed on the Assembly through its own Standing Orders. In that same spirit, surely the Standing Orders of the Assembly should be a matter for Assembly Members alone, especially bearing in mind that the Bill trumpets its credentials as the harbinger of a new model of reserved powers. No other legislature in the UK is denied the freedom to decide on its own legislative process and Standing Orders. There is nothing of the kind in Northern Ireland, Scotland or England, and nothing currently in Wales. No reciprocal arrangement is in place whereby UK Government Bills are required—voluntarily or otherwise— to assess what impact they will have on Assembly responsibilities in Wales. What impact, for example, will the building of the super-prison in Wrexham have on public service provision in the area, the national health service and transport?
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As a matter of principle, this approach—I refer to the one of mutual consideration and respect—might be welcomed, but the arrangement proposed in clause 10 can be compared with Goliath ordering David to assess the impact of his slingshot while chucking boulders around at will. This requirement, coupled with the powers of the Secretary of State to veto Welsh legislation under Section 152 of the 2006 Act, causes me some concern.
Finally, I take this opportunity to refresh the memory of the House that, were Wales to be equipped with a separate legal jurisdiction, there would simply be no need to jump through the hoops implicit in justice impact assessments. Clause 10 once again reminds us that underpinning the Wales Bill is the need to prioritise the single unified legal system of England and Wales, hedging the Assembly’s legislators about with an excess of checks and balances, rather than empowering them. We oppose clause 10 and we will vote against it when the time comes.