My Lords, it seems that most of the noble Lords who have taken part in this debate have looked at the Bill through one end of a telescope, which focuses on the powers of the devolved Administrations and the threats or perceived threats to them. There is another end of the telescope you could use to look at the Bill, which shows that businesses in all parts of the UK need the certainty of knowing how they will be able to trade within the UK, going forward. That is important for those businesses trying to build a successful economy, particularly coming out of the Covid pandemic.
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All the amendments in this group are motivated by a concern about the powers being transferred to the devolved Administrations. However, if those who are concerned flipped the telescope around and looked at things from a devolved Administration perspective, they would see that there are good things in this Bill that protect the economies of the devolved Administrations. Businesses, from whichever part of the UK, will want to continue trading with the rest of the UK. As I reminded the Committee earlier, 60% of Scottish exports, 61% of Welsh exports and 49% of Northern Ireland exports come into the rest of the UK. Therefore, using this end of the telescope, you can see that the businesses involved in trading these goods are looking for certainty to ensure that they know the basis on which they can go forward.
I have to say that I knew almost nothing about common frameworks before considering this Bill, and I certainly do not have the knowledge displayed by the members of the committee chaired by the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews. However, it is clear to me that not all those common frameworks are about the internal market; they cover other things too. A well-developed example is the storage of hazardous waste, which has nothing to do with the operation of the UK internal market; it covers a wider range of issues. Of course, such frameworks operate at the level of specifics, in very detailed areas. They do not give the overarching principles of market access that the Bill gives, which are mutual recognition and non-discrimination. However, I am puzzled by the relationship between the common frameworks and this Bill. I say to the Minister, I share the concern that many noble Lords have expressed in this debate: that no reference is made to those common frameworks. It is unclear to me whether the content of a common framework could override the mutual recognition requirements of non-discrimination. We need certainty; businesses need certainty in order to go forward.
If noble Lords and the devolved Administrations believe in the union, they ought to believe that we want an effective and efficient internal market within the UK. The issue should be, how best we can get that. For that reason, I support Clause 51, which ensures that this can continue to be a UK issue and cannot be overridden by the legislation in the devolved Administrations. We know that the Scottish Government do not believe in the union; they will find any way to undermine such a provision. I hope noble Lords will not let their version of grievance politics poison our approach to getting a sensible Bill on to the statute book to give the certainty that business needs.