My Lords, I fear I must disagree with the noble Baroness, Lady Neville-Rolfe. I support this amendment. The House will be aware of my approach as a devolutionist, and I will not repeat my general views. However, for my part, the key is subsections (3) and (4) of Amendment 4 on what should be contained in a very necessary and vital memorandum of understanding.
At Second Reading, I raised the divergence in understanding between the Welsh Government and Whitehall. The Welsh Government spelled out that they were losers from the Bill—their powers would be changed. There were two particular differences in understanding between HMG and the Welsh Government. First, they said that the Bill takes powers to spend money over the heads of devolved Ministers on devolved matters; and, secondly, that the Bill amends the Government of Wales Act to add the decision on and operation of state aid policy to the list of reserved powers. In the factual briefing on the Bill, the Government actually claim that they are increasing the powers of the devolved legislatures. Indeed, in the discussion on the previous amendment, the Minister claimed again that new powers were being given to the devolved legislatures. They cannot both be right. A recent meeting of Peers with the Welsh Secretary failed miserably
to clarify the position. I now specifically ask for the Government to publish a reply to the Welsh Government’s document on their concerns about the Bill.
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Subsection (3) is of the utmost importance. There must be a clear understanding of the need for the consent of the devolved legislatures in a memorandum of understanding before this House finishes with the Bill. I need not say much more than that we also need an important statement that Her Majesty’s Government have not wished, deliberately or by inadvertence, to undermine the unity of the United Kingdom, both by actions and words. I express my deep concern about this approach by the Government of going back on the devolution settlement, which has worked for many years now.
Certainly, the unhappiness of the Welsh Government is clearly expressed in their document. We should have—and I hope the Minister will be able to promise as much—a document setting out where they agree and disagree with the specific points made in the document which has been circulated.