This week marks the fifth anniversary of the 2016 EU membership referendum and, naturally, there was a debate in the Senedd on that. There’s one line that’s been repeated quite a lot over the last few years, and more recently, that worth examining.
In the Senedd a few weeks ago, we got this:
“….Wales has received scores of new powers and responsibilities as a result of our departure from the EU. The United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 actually cemented powers and gave responsibilities to the Senedd in around 70 policy areas, which came to us directly from Brussels.”
– Darren Millar MS (Con, Clwyd West)
“…..the end of the transition period for the Brexit arrangements and the internal market Bill coming into play – that powers in at least 70 policy areas previously exercised at an EU level will come directly to here in the Senedd. Furthermore, none of the powers currently held by devolved administrations will be removed.”
– Sam Rowlands MS (Con, North Wales)
There are two claims worthy of another look.
Firstly, the statement from both that around 70 additional powers – previously exercised by the EU – have been transferred to Wales because of Brexit and the UK Internal Market Act 2020.
Secondly, Sam Rowlands saying that no powers currently held by the devolved administrations will be/have been removed.
With this one, we need to go back to the UK Government’s proposed framework for how EU powers would be used in the UK after Brexit – the latest version of which was published in September 2020 (pdf).
The paper set out the list of devolved policy areas that were under EU control. There are – indeed – 66 (previously 70) of them relating to Wales and far more relating to Scotland and Northern Ireland. These policy areas include (broadly speaking):
- Environmental standards – including carbon capture, renewables, flood management, energy efficiency, environmental impact assessments, water quality, air quality, GMOs and waste management.
- Transport – including bus franchising rules, road pricing, maritime transport and road safety.
- Cross-border healthcare rights.
- Agriculture/farming, food safety and food standards.
- Fisheries.
- Animal welfare.
- Equalities.
- Statistics gathering.
- Mutual recognition of qualifications.
In addition to these, the UK Government believes a small number of policy areas are exclusively their remit. This includes state aid rules (rules setting out whether public bodies can justify investing in businesses), product safety involving explosive atmospheres, protected geographical status of food and data sharing.
By my count, as of September 2020:
- 35 of the powers were deemed to need an informal UK framework and will continue to be managed through cooperation between the UK and Welsh government.
- 13 were believed to need common rules across the UK based on a formal agreement rather than a new law.
- 18 were expected to need a new law (at the UK level) to implement common rules across the UK.
A number of these 66 powers also straddle devolved and non-devolved policy areas, complicating matters further.
As a matter of principle, there’s nothing wrong with having common rules across the UK. They ought to be properly negotiated so it doesn’t result in a UK system being imposed on everyone without the say so of the devolved parliaments.
However, if there are a common set of UK rules and Wales isn’t allowed to deviate from them (if we choose to do so), then those powers have been devolved in name only. It’s a bit like someone giving you a car, saying it’s yours but you can’t drive it (or can only drive it under certain conditions).
