My Lords, I tabled Amendment 318AA as an amendment to the amendment in the name of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay. I did so with due deference and with considerable temerity to be trampling on the legal pastures in which he has such expertise and I am a layman. None the less, I confirm that I have had conversations not only with Mr Mike Russell, to whom the noble and learned Lord referred, but with people from the Welsh Government—and, as he raised the question with me, yes, I have discussed it with the Presiding Officer of the National Assembly, Elin Jones, who sees no difficulty at all with such a mechanism.
With that prelude, I thank the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay of Clashfern, for tabling Amendment 318A, which he did following the earlier debates in Committee. Those debates pointed to a crying need for a sensible mechanism to be found for dealing with the vexed issue of securing agreement between Westminster and the devolved legislatures regarding those matters which the UK Government feel must be handled on a UK level, even though they deal with areas that may be of devolved competence.
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I was encouraged by the Minister’s words, relating to these amendments, that there is a possibility of
looking at this between now and Report. That is something that will be welcomed in Cardiff and Edinburgh. Indeed, as the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay, said, there is a yearning in both those cities for this issue to be resolved by a sensible mechanism that is acceptable to all sides. That is the point of view from which I approach this question and it is why I put forward the amendment I have on the Order Paper.
I agree very much with what the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay, said. The reason I tabled Amendment 318AA is that the system of adjudicating whether or not the powers should be exercised on a UK level must be recognised and accepted as fair by all sides—there should be no political connotation running into it. The final provision of Amendment 318A is for Westminster to have the last word—which I understand that technically and constitutionally it would have, because ultimately the sovereignty is here. However, I fear that, if that was the case, it would inevitably be seen as a facility to overrule the devolved Governments. Having that power in reserve, Westminster would not be encouraged to negotiate on an even-handed basis. It would have the ultimate trump card, and as such the legitimacy of the whole process could be undermined.
As the noble and learned Lord mentioned, my amendment provides for a mechanism whereby, in the event of disagreement, the issue can be considered for a ruling by a panel comprising the Speaker of the House of Commons and the presiding officers of the devolved Parliament and Assemblies. It also provides that, if they so choose, they can refer the matter to the Supreme Court. In this way, we would be providing an equivalence to the European system that we are replacing, in that the European court currently can have a role in resolving such matters.
Incidentally, in response to the intervention by the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, as I understand it, Scottish whisky now sells very effectively throughout the whole of the European single market—but that does not imply that there is a single tax regime in all the countries of the European single market.