Hansard

As the cabinet secretary rightly said, and the convener has just repeated, this LCM results from the UK’s withdrawal from the EU and seeks to put in place the replacement legislation that is required for those frameworks that were previously provided by EU law and the repeal of the European Communities Act 1972.

The UK Environment Bill is an enabling bill that provides both UK and Scottish ministers with powers—reserved and devolved respectively—to bring forward secondary legislation, so it is clear that there are implications for the devolved Administrations.

As has been mentioned, the Scottish Government and the committee were generally content with the principles of the bill and with the fact that primary legislation is required. However, there were issues about why that primary legislation has to be made at Westminster rather than Holyrood, even if the Scottish Government takes the view that there is no undermining of the devolution settlement, as the cabinet secretary reiterated.

However, there were questions about the scrutiny process, which is a topical issue in other aspects of the Parliament’s business. Whether or not we voted for Brexit, the process has shone an important light on the political process and on the issues of when primary and secondary legislation should be used and when the affirmative and negative procedures should apply to instruments. That point was raised by key witnesses at the Finance and Constitution Committee during stage 1 evidence on the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity) (Scotland) Bill.

Although those issues are for constitutional lawyers as much as for anybody else, they matter, and we have a collective responsibility to ensure that the procedures that are used in the Parliament are applied appropriately. Against that backdrop, the ECCLR Committee members concluded that they were not confident that there was a sufficient level of detail about the circumstances in which the Scottish ministers would consent to legislative powers of the Scottish Parliament being exercised by the UK Government.

That concern was heightened by the fact that regulations that are made under the bill will be used to implement policy change, and there was a question about whether Holyrood will have sufficient autonomy when it comes to policy direction. Obviously, that is important. The committee rightly made the point that an answer to that question is dependent on our having full information on any governance arrangements, especially those relating to the common frameworks. There was unanimous agreement that there is a need for full clarity so that it is explicit where powers in devolved competence are to be delegated to UK ministers.

That then led to debate, including in the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee, about whether joint procedures might be welcome, but the Scottish Government clarified its position and acknowledged that it is important not to place additional regulatory burdens on bodies, as that would double up time or lead to the handling of complex cross-border issues, such as health and safety issues relating to the use of chemicals, in the way that the cabinet secretary described.

The LCM is necessary, but the debate surrounding it exemplifies the difficulties and complexities of the Brexit process, on which all UK legislators are having to spend so much of their scrutiny time.

We will support the LCM at decision time.