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Brexit: Devolution and Legislative Consent

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Brexit: Devolution and Legislative Consent BRIEFING PAPER Number 08274, 29 March 2018 Brexit: Devolution and By Graeme Cowie legislative consent Contents: 1. What is legislative consent? 2. Why do we have legislative consent? 3. What is the scope of legislative consent? 4. How do devolved legislatures give or withhold legislative consent? 5. How does Parliament modify devolved competence and functions? 6. Deciding to leave – no devolved role 7. European Union (Withdrawal) Bill (2017-19) 8. Other “Brexit Bills” www.parliament.uk/commons-library | intranet.parliament.uk/commons-library | [email protected] | @commonslibrary 2 Brexit: Devolution and legislative consent Contents Summary 3 1. What is legislative consent? 4 1.1 A self-denying ordinance of the UK Parliament 4 1.2 How did the legislative consent convention emerge? 5 1.3 A constitutional convention recognised in statute? 5 1.4 What if consent is not given? 6 2. Why do we have legislative consent? 7 2.1 Protecting “constitutional spheres of authority” 7 2.2 Protecting central competencies 8 2.3 Protecting sub-state competencies 9 3. What is the scope of legislative consent? 11 3.1 The original convention and the Devolution Guidance Notes 11 3.2 Scotland Act 2016 and Wales Act 2017 14 4. How do devolved legislatures give or withhold legislative consent? 18 4.1 Scotland 18 4.2 Wales 20 4.3 Northern Ireland 21 5. How does Parliament modify devolved competence and functions? 22 5.1 Two legislative avenues 22 5.2 Scotland and Wales – Orders in Council 23 5.3 Scotland and Wales – Acts of Parliament 24 5.4 Northern Ireland 25 6. Deciding to leave – no devolved role 26 7. European Union (Withdrawal) Bill (2017-19) 28 7.1 Current relationship between devolved authorities and EU law 28 7.2 What the EUW Bill changes 29 7.3 Provisions to which the legislative consent convention applies 32 7.4 Objections of the devolved administrations 35 7.5 What happens if consent is withheld? 37 8. Other “Brexit Bills” 39 8.1 Overview 39 8.2 Trade Bill (2017-19) 39 8.3 Taxation (Cross-Border Trade) Bill (2017-19) 42 8.4 Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill (2017-19) 42 8.5 EU (Withdrawal Agreement and Implementation) Bill 43 Annex – Legislative consent precedents 45 Cover page image copyright: Saltire and Union Jack waving together by Kyoshi Masamune. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 / image cropped 3 Commons Library Briefing, 29 March 2018 Summary Legislative consent is a fundamental part of the territorial constitutional arrangements of the United Kingdom. The self-denying ordinance of the UK Parliament that it will normally only legislate with regard to devolved matters with the consent of the devolved legislature is a non-legal constitutional constraint. It helps to protect and preserve autonomous spheres of constitutional authority with regard to devolved legislatures and their related institutions. The withdrawal of the UK from the European Union poses significant challenges to the existing devolution settlements in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Several key pieces of legislation, deemed necessary by the UK Government to deliver its policy of withdrawing the UK from the EU, have significant implications for the powers of the devolved legislatures and executive bodies. The first such piece of legislation was the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal Act) 2017, which was necessary to commence the Article 50 withdrawal process. The litigation that gave rise to the requirement for that Act also clarified the role of legislative consent in the UK constitution. In particular, it highlighted its limitations as a mechanism by which devolved legislatures could influence the Brexit process. Several Brexit framework Bills will, among other things, make significant modifications to the powers of the devolved legislatures and executive bodies. Those Bills, especially the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill 2017-19 (EUW Bill), the Trade Bill 2017-19, and the anticipated European Union (Withdrawal Agreement and Implementation) Bill, are understood to include, or be very likely to include, provisions that engage the legislative consent procedures of the respective devolved legislatures. Both the Scottish and Welsh Governments have indicated that they will withhold legislative consent for the EUW Bill and the Trade Bill. They are concerned that the provisions in those Bills would diminish the existing competencies of the devolved legislatures and executives. The Scottish and Welsh Governments have introduced “Continuity” Bills before their respective legislatures. These Bills seek pre-emptively to protect devolved institutions against the changes that the EUW Bill in particular, would make to the Scotland Act 1998 and the Government of Wales Act 2006. Whether these Bills themselves fall within the legislative competence of the devolved Parliaments is itself a contentious constitutional question. Were legislative consent to be withheld in relation to one or more of the relevant Brexit framework Bills, the UK Government would not be prevented, legally, from presenting the legislation for Royal Assent. To do so, however, would be a constitutionally unprecedented course of action, the Government having explicitly acknowledged that the convention applies to those Bills. 4 Brexit: Devolution and legislative consent 1. What is legislative consent? Summary Legislative consent is a constitutional convention which restrains the law-making powers of the UK Parliament. Where a devolved legislature has the power to make laws, this does not diminish the law-making power of the UK Parliament in those areas. However, the UK Parliament has developed a self-denying ordinance, supported by the working practices of the UK Government. Parliament undertakes that, normally, it will only legislate with regard to devolved matters when it has the consent of the devolved legislature. 1.1 A self-denying ordinance of the UK Parliament Under the three principal devolution statutes, devolved legislatures and executives have areas for which they are constitutionally and routinely responsible.1 However, the UK Parliament retains the power to legislate in devolved areas. To respect the devolved institutions’ constitutional spheres of responsibility, the UK Parliament developed a self-denying ordinance. The UK Parliament will not normally legislate with regard to devolved matters without the prior agreement of the devolved legislatures in whose constitutional space they are legislating. The act of agreeing to an Act of the UK Parliament that contains provisions having regard to devolved matters is known as giving “legislative consent”. Parliament’s self-denying ordinance, known as the “Sewel Convention” or Lord Sewel, HL Deb the “legislative consent convention” has the status of a constitutional 21 July 1998 Vol 592 convention and is not legally enforceable in the courts.2 The terms of this c791 self-denying ordinance were first articulated by Lord Sewel, the Minister responsible for steering the Scotland Bill 1997-98 through the House of “we would expect a Lords. He said: convention to be we would expect a convention to be established that Westminster established that would not normally legislate with regard to devolved matters in Westminster would Scotland without the consent of the Scottish parliament.3 not normally A devolved legislature signifies its legislative consent to a Bill of the UK legislate with regard Parliament by passing a “legislative consent motion” (LCM). This happens in to devolved matters in Scotland without accordance with its own Standing Orders and after the relevant devolved the consent of the administration has expressed its view on the legislation by way of a Scottish parliament.” legislative consent “memorandum”. 1 Scotland Act 1998 (the Scotland Act or SA), Government of Wales Act 2006 (GoWA) and Northern Ireland Act 1998 (NIA) 2 For the purposes of this paper, the terms “Sewel Convention” and “legislative consent convention” are used interchangeably. The former is, technically, only concerned with the legislative consent arrangements relating to Scotland, but its colloquial use beyond that is more widespread. 3 HL Deb 21 July 1998 Vol 592 c791 5 Commons Library Briefing, 29 March 2018 1.2 How did the legislative consent convention emerge? Following the creation of the three devolution settlements, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was agreed between the UK Government and devolved administrations.4 It serves as a political commitment to honour the constitutional rule proposed by Lord Sewel and states that: The United Kingdom Parliament retains authority to legislate on any issue, whether devolved or not. It is ultimately for Parliament to decide what use to make of that power. However, the UK Government will proceed in accordance with the convention that the UK Parliament would not normally legislate with regard to devolved matters except with the agreement of the devolved legislature. The devolved administrations will be responsible for seeking such agreement as may be required for this purpose on an approach from the UK Government.5 The Cabinet Office subsequently produced several Devolution Guidance Notes (DGNs) to support civil servants giving effect to the working arrangements envisaged by the MoU. Of those, five address the current arrangements for how legislative consent should work in practice.6 1.3 A constitutional convention recognised in statute? The most recently amended versions of the Scotland Act and the Section 2 Scotland Government of Wales Act put Lord Sewel’s words “on a statutory footing”. Act 2016 The Scotland Act 2016 and Wales Act 2017 amended the original acts to include provisions that stated: But it is recognised that the Parliament But it is recognised that the Parliament of the United Kingdom will of the United not normally legislate with regard to devolved matters without the consent of the [devolved legislature].7 Kingdom will not normally legislate The decision of Parliament to include these legislative provisions in relation with regard to to Scotland and Wales had no legal effect on the relationship between the devolved matters UK Parliament and their respective devolved institutions.
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