UK governance post-Brexit

The Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee of the National Assembly for Wales published a report called UK governance post-Brexit in February 2018.

The Committee called for the establishment of a Speakers’ Conference to help improve the way parliaments worked together and hold governments of the UK to account.

A Speaker’s Conference was used in Westminster and was effectively a committee drawing members from all sides of the House of Commons and the United Kingdom to address constitutional issues of particular significance or sensitivity which required a cross-party solution.

The recommendation from the Committee was for a conference involving speakers and presiding officers from all UK legislatures with the aim of determining how best to develop UK inter-parliamentary working, particularly as a means of scrutinising the impact of withdrawal from the European Union on the constitutional framework of the UK.

The Committee also concluded that inter-governmental relations — currently administered through the Joint Ministerial Committee — had not changed enough since their introduction following devolution and that the Speakers’ Conference could assess the UK Government’s approach as the UK left the EU.

The Committee also wanted to see the EU Withdrawal Bill making its way through Westminster, and which would repatriate powers from Europe into UK law, amended to put inter-governmental relations on a statutory footing.

Wales: National Assembly for Wales: Assembly Business: Committees http://www.assembly.wales/en/bus-home/committees/Pages/committees.aspx

Wales: National Assembly for Wales: Assembly Business: Committees: Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee: Press Release 02.02.18: Assembly committee calls for a Speakers’ Conference http://www.assembly.wales/en/bus-home/committees/Pages/Committee-Profile.aspx?cid=434

Blog: The Constitution Unit, 01.03.18: Devolution, Brexit, and the prospect of a new constitutional settlement for the four countries of the UK https://constitution-unit.com/2018/03/01/devolution-brexit-and-the-prospect-of-a-new-constitutional-settlement-for-the-four-countries-of-the-uk/

Wales: National Assembly for Wales: Assembly Business: Committees: Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee: Press Release, 05.02.18: Llywydd and Committee Chair tell Westminster Committee “Wales’ voice must be heard clearly as we exit the EU”, and call for the establishment of a Speakers’ Conference http://www.assembly.wales/en/newhome/Pages/newsitem.aspx?itemid=1812

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