My Lords, I support Amendment 114, moved by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay. It is right that we take the opportunity to look at the role and relationship of the Competition and Markets Authority and its relation to the Joint Ministerial Committee.
The single market is important to all of us. Perhaps I may give a practical example of smooth working, which is so essential. In the words of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay, smooth working will ensure that our products are able to be sold in one part of the country and in any other. Nothing would distort that more than if access to the markets were limited. All my family are sheep farmers. They sell their products, produced in Wales—ram lambs, lambs and ewes—in markets in Carlisle and Exeter on a modest scale. It is important for them to ensure that they have easy access to all markets. That is the kind of practical example that we look at in the functioning of our future relationships.
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In addition, there is the devolution settlement for each country. Whitehall has been very slow to wake up to the fact that there are four legislatures in so many fields within the United Kingdom, as we have seen recently in the divergences relating to health. It is important that that is recognised. I keep a constant watch on anything that might be done to undermine the devolution settlement. The very fact that powers are coming from Brussels to Westminster entitles us to concentrate ever more sharply and keep an even more watchful eye on the machinery.
The machinery for the CMA is set out in Clauses 28 to 35, which are all very detailed. We are putting into legislative effect the fruits of detailed negotiations between the four Governments since 1997. Those involved should be congratulated on what they have been achieving, and nothing should be done to undermine those achievements. In all these clauses there are detailed provisions regarding reports, regulations and default provisions. I may have missed something but I see no reference to consultation. Consultation is the essence of the amendment moved by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay. The Joint Ministerial Committee will represent all four nations. They will know where the shoe pinches and what is of concern in their own countries. In fact, they will be the better means by which to ensure the smooth working in the future to which the noble and learned Lord referred.