Thread by @pmdfoster

NEW: Welsh Brexit Minister @Jeremy_Miles absolutely roasts Biz sec Alok Sharma @AlokSharma_RDG over plans UK internal market bill - warns it will "accelerate the break up" of the UK - this is VERY strong language from pro Union welsh govt /1 Thread

ft.com/content/3b0cdb…

@Jeremy_Miles @AlokSharma_RDG Just to re-cap quickly, after #Brexit transition ends the UK will no longer be following all those rules and directives from Brussels so will need to set its own rules to create consistency across the UK's internal market...but that will cut across Scottish & Welsh powers /2

@Jeremy_Miles @AlokSharma_RDG When govt published White Paper last month @AlokSharma_RDG said it was necessary to bring "clarity and certainty" for business...but the Scottish and Welsh govts said it was an outrageous "power grab" /3

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…

@Jeremy_Miles @AlokSharma_RDG They warned that a proposed system of "mutual recognition" would essentially see Westminster' forcing, say, new food standards on Wales/Scotland that come from trade deals - viz higher pesticide residues, hormone beef - and cut across existing powers held by devolved govts /4

@Jeremy_Miles @AlokSharma_RDG Now, after reviewing the White Paper @Jeremy_Miles has written an excoriating letter to @AlokSharma_RDG warning that this heavy-handed @BorisJohnson approach to pass primary legislation over-riding devolved govts' objections will risk a constitutional car crash /5

@Jeremy_Miles @AlokSharma_RDG @BorisJohnson Daniel Wincott, professor of law and society at Cardiff university @DanielWinc tells me, you might expect this from Scottish Nationalists, but if you're hearing it from the pro-Union Welsh govt, then it's time - maybe - to start listening.

But let's get to the letter /6

@Jeremy_Miles @AlokSharma_RDG @BorisJohnson @DanielWinc You can read it in full here, as well as 7 pages of analysis of the White Paper which elucidates the fears that the Welsh government has about how this legislation will, over time, prove a "direct attack" on the model of devolution. /7

business.senedd.wales/documents/s103…

@Jeremy_Miles @AlokSharma_RDG @BorisJohnson @DanielWinc For those without time to read, here are some choice excerpts from the @Jeremy_Miles letter - it really is a broadside....says the legislation is "unnecessary, unworkable, heavy-handed, and will not secure legislative consent from the Senedd" [Welsh Parliament]. /8

@Jeremy_Miles @AlokSharma_RDG @BorisJohnson @DanielWinc And on the future of the Union itself:

"the long-term survival of the United Kingdom is under great strain and that the approach taken in the White Paper will exacerbate those tensions in a way which, if not addressed, will accelerate the break-up of the Union."

Pow. /9

@Jeremy_Miles @AlokSharma_RDG @BorisJohnson @DanielWinc If you follow down into the analysis, it provides examples of where Wales could have it's wings clipped - on teacher qualifications, for example, or plastics policies or building regs - I've snipped a few EGs here.../10

@Jeremy_Miles @AlokSharma_RDG @BorisJohnson @DanielWinc All of which begs a much deeper and more important question - WHY is the government taking this very heavy-handed and confrontational approach to the internal market issue? The Miles letter & analysis asks this question, pointing out that devolution already manages difference/11

@Jeremy_Miles @AlokSharma_RDG @BorisJohnson @DanielWinc Indeed differences already exist on, say, building regs or teacher qualifications etc and the Common Frameworks approach that the govt set up to manage rules across the Union post-Brexit were designed to address this /12

More here from @instituteforgov

instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/dev…

@Jeremy_Miles @AlokSharma_RDG @BorisJohnson @DanielWinc @instituteforgov The Scottish government has made the same point, warning that White Paper approach risks creating an "unmanaged and competitive regulatory divergence in a “race to the bottom” and therefore work against the purpose of frameworks." /13

gov.scot/publications/u…

@Jeremy_Miles @AlokSharma_RDG @BorisJohnson @DanielWinc @instituteforgov The Government's argument is that the Common Frameworks approach isn't robust/wide ranging enough, so it now wants replace it with what @Jeremy_Miles calls a "blunt, catch-all Bill" that undoes much of that work /14

@Jeremy_Miles @AlokSharma_RDG @BorisJohnson @DanielWinc @instituteforgov The politics of this is intriguing because it appears so deliberately confrontational.

As I've reported lots of wise heads in Whitehall have flagged the constitutional risks rushing through what is an ill-thought out piece of legislation...to no apparent avail. /15

@Jeremy_Miles @AlokSharma_RDG @BorisJohnson @DanielWinc @instituteforgov I keep reading learned commentators saying @BorisJohnson will do a #brexit deal because he's worried about Scottish nationalism & the threat to the Union (see latest polls) and @NicolaSturgeon growing aura of relative competence v bunglers in Westminister /16

@Jeremy_Miles @AlokSharma_RDG @BorisJohnson @DanielWinc @instituteforgov @NicolaSturgeon But when you look at the @BorisJohnson approach to this Internal Market bill (i.e managing 'life in the Union after Brexit) you'd be forgiven for thinking that the Govt is all too happy to pick the fight.../17

@Jeremy_Miles @AlokSharma_RDG @BorisJohnson @DanielWinc @instituteforgov @NicolaSturgeon Perhaps there is confidence that post-transition it will dawn on Scotland that with UK out of EU single market, they're stuck - nowhere to go; the economics of independence rendered impossible.

Well, as we saw with #Brexit, these decision aren't always about economics ;) /18

@Jeremy_Miles @AlokSharma_RDG @BorisJohnson @DanielWinc @instituteforgov @NicolaSturgeon Or perhaps, as @rafaelbehr speculates here, @BorisJohnson is happy to stoke the nationalist fires in the English shires, knowing that Labour probably cannot form a majority in Westminster without SNP support /19

theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

@Jeremy_Miles @AlokSharma_RDG @BorisJohnson @DanielWinc @instituteforgov @NicolaSturgeon @rafaelbehr I don't know, but I do fear Mr Miles is right.

The long-term survival of the UK is indeed "under great strain"...and the Govt approach is clearly exacerbating those tensions.

The coming super-hard #Brexit - @BorisJohnson's choice - will fan the flames further still. ENDS