LEGISLATIVE CONSENT MEMORANDUM THE EUROPEAN UNION (FUTURE RELATIONSHIP) BILL Introduction 1. The European Union (Future Relationship) Bill (“the Bill”) is expected to be introduced into the House of Commons on 30 December 2020. It is intended to implement elements of the future relationship agreements (“the FRA”) reached between the UK Government and European Union (“the EU”) and the European Atomic Energy Community on 24 December 2020, including the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (“the TCA”), the Civil Nuclear Agreement and the Security of Classified Information Agreement. 2. This Memorandum has been lodged by Michael Russell, Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, Europe, and External Affairs under Rule 9.B.3.1 (a) of the Parliament’s Standing Orders. The final draft Bill can be found at the UK Government website.1 3. This Memorandum relates to the Bill as introduced. 4. The Scottish Government continues to believe that the best option for both Scotland and the UK is to be a Member State of the European Union. This position is supported by the people of Scotland, as expressed in successive elections since 2016 and the 2016 referendum itself.2 Reflecting these views, on 8 January 2020 the Scottish Parliament voted by 92 – 293 against granting legislative consent for the EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 20204 which implemented the agreement that removed the UK and Scotland from the EU. 5. The Scottish Government believes that the Parliament should similarly refuse consent to this Bill. The Scottish Government cannot support the FRA, which it considers will have a severe detrimental impact on Scotland both in its specific terms and as the culmination of the process of leaving the EU – a mistake of historic significance. The Scottish Government also cannot support a Bill of such importance being rushed through its legislative processes without the opportunity for proper parliamentary scrutiny in either the UK or Scottish Parliaments. 6. For these reasons, the Scottish Government recommends that the Scottish Parliament should not consent to the Bill. 7. The Scottish Government does not therefore intend to lodge a legislative consent motion in relation to the Bill. In line with Rule 9B.3.3(d) of Standing Orders, the Scottish Government’s reasons for not including a draft motion are set out in paragraphs 32-45 below. Instead, the Scottish Government intends to invite the Scottish Parliament to vote on a motion expressly denying consent to the Bill. 1 EU (Future Relationship) Bill - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). 2 On 23 June 2016 62% of voters in Scotland supported remaining in the EU, with a majority in support of remain in every Scottish council area. 3 Official Report - Parliamentary Business : Scottish Parliament 4 European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 (legislation.gov.uk) LCM-S5-50 Session 5 (2020) Background The UK’s withdrawal from the EU 8. The UK Government notified the EU of its intention to withdraw from the Union on 29 March 2017. The withdrawal agreement initially concluded between the UK and the EU on 25 November 2018 was not approved by the UK Parliament, and the two year period set out in Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union was twice extended by agreement of EU Member States and the UK. Under the terms of the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 20195, the Prime Minister issued a letter on 19 October 2019 requesting that a further extension until 31 January 2020 be granted, which it subsequently was. 9. The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 20186 (“EUWA 2018”), passed by the UK Parliament in June 2018, provides for the consequences in domestic law of the UK leaving the EU. It ensures that current EU law as it stands on the day that the implementation period concludes, IP completion day, continues to have domestic effect following exit subject to certain changes, and provides Ministers with powers to ensure this retained EU law works effectively. EUWA 2018 required the legislative consent of the Scottish Parliament under the Sewel Convention. This was refused by the Parliament on 15 May 2018.7 However, the UK Government proceeded with, and the UK Parliament passed, the Bill without amendments to reflect the views of the Scottish Parliament, in breach of the Sewel Convention. 10. On 5 December 2018, the Scottish Parliament resolved that both a no-deal exit from the EU and the Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration, as presented to the House of Commons by the then Prime Minister, would damage Scotland and the nations and regions of the UK as a whole, and therefore recommended that they be rejected and that a better alternative be taken forward.8 On 5 March 2019, both the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Parliament passed motions rejecting both the previously concluded Withdrawal Agreement and the possibility of leaving at any point without a deal.9 11. After further negotiations the UK Government and EU concluded a Withdrawal Agreement that would lead to Scotland as part of the UK leaving the EU on 31 January 2020. As previously noted, the Scottish Parliament voted to withhold consent to the Bill implementing this agreement.10 Despite this, the Bill was passed by the UK Parliament and received Royal Assent on 23 January 2020, to become the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020. Under the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement as implemented in domestic UK law by that Act, the UK left the EU and entered a transition period on 31 January 2020. That Act was passed by the UK Parliament contrary to the objections of the Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Ireland legislatures. 5 European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019 (legislation.gov.uk) 6 European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (legislation.gov.uk) 7 See https://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/Bills/105997.aspx 8 http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/report.aspx?r=11826&mode=pdf 9 http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/report.aspx?r=11976&mode=pdf 10 https://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/report.aspx?r=12446&mode=pdf 2 Negotiation of the future EU-UK relationship 12. The UK and EU began formal negotiation of a future relationship agreement in March 2020, after the UK Government published a document setting out its approach to the negotiations and the EU approved, through its normal procedure, a mandate for the Commission to negotiate on its behalf. The starting point, albeit non-binding, was the Political Declaration that accompanied the Withdrawal Agreement. A schedule for the negotiations was agreed between the two sides and published in April 2020. According to the Political Declaration to the Withdrawal Agreement, there was an aim to agree a fisheries framework agreement by July but that deadline was missed. 13. The Withdrawal Agreement included an option and process for extension of the transition period. In June 2020, the Scottish Government published a detailed document explaining the case for extending the transition period, including to help manage the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.11 The Scottish and Welsh Governments wrote to the UK Government calling for extension – but the UK Government decided against this course of action. 14. Negotiations resumed following a ‘pause for reflection’ in August. Although agreement was apparently reached during the autumn in a number of areas, important differences remained on the ‘Level Playing Field’, fisheries and governance. Following engagement at senior political level between the Prime Minister and the EU Commission President, a Future Relationship Agreement was concluded between the two parties on 24 December 2020 in advance of the end of the transition period at 11:00 p.m. on 31 December 2020.12 A Bill to implement that agreement, the European Union (Future Relationship) Bill, is expected to be introduced on 30 December 2020. 15. Normally this agreement would be ratified on the EU side by both the Council and the Parliament, but the EU has decided that the agreement should be given provisional effect from 1 January 2021 before detailed scrutiny by the European Parliament. Involvement of the devolved administrations in the negotiations 16. In October 2016 the Joint Ministerial Committee, made up of the heads of the UK Government and devolved administrations, agreed terms of reference for a Joint Ministerial Committee on EU Negotiations (“JMC(EN)”)13. 17. The terms of reference for the JMC(EN) set out that the four administrations should seek to agree the UK position for negotiations, but this has never taken place. Instead, the UK Government has taken all decisions on the UK position unilaterally whether those negotiations involved reserved or devolved areas of policy. The terms of reference also say the administrations in the committee should collectively oversee the negotiations, but that too has never taken place; again the UK Government has carried out the negotiations alone and has not, even on a confidential basis, engaged in collective discussion with the devolved administrations on matters within the 11 Coronavirus (COVID-19): the case for extending the Brexit transition period - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) 12 Agreements reached between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the European Union - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) 13 Microsoft Word - 20161024 JMCP communique CLEAN 1355.docx (publishing.service.gov.uk) 3 negotiations, such as prioritisation within the UK negotiating position or trade-offs within or between negotiating chapters. 18. The UK Government did provide some opportunities to devolved administrations to set out their views and priorities for the negotiations, and privately gave some limited factual readouts periodically during the process of the negotiations, albeit not at a level of detail which was required or would have been useful. The UK Government has not provided any information on the extent to which the devolved administrations’ views were reflected in the UK’s negotiating position and so the Scottish Government is not able to say what impact expressing its views had.