Brexit law change plan rushed, Welsh minister says

A senior Welsh politician has accused the UK government of rushing through its "Brexit Freedoms Bill".

The UK government wants to make it easier to change EU-era regulations that remain in force.

But Counsel General Mick Antoniw said the way it was announced was "completely unacceptable".

The UK government says the bill will encourage businesses to invest in the United Kingdom, and it will continue to work closely with devolved ministers.

While the UK has moved away from EU laws in certain areas, the prime minister has been under increasing pressure from some in his party to go further.

But the bill has sparked concerns over how it could impact the powers of the governments of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Much of former EU law covers matters that are devolved to Cardiff - such as agriculture, fisheries and food standards.

The Welsh government is seeking assurances about how the changes will work - and that the plans will not affect the powers that lie in the control of ministers in Wales.

Ministers in London had already been reviewing which EU laws they wanted to keep in place or ditch.

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'Robust meeting'

At a Senedd committee meeting Mr Antoniw said discussions about the bill prompted a "robust" exchange at a meeting on Saturday between Attorney General Suella Braverman and Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish ministers.

"I think there was considerable dissatisfaction with the fact that none of us had any documentation in front of us," he said.

"None of us had any information that would enable us to make any contribution to it, in terms of the content on what is something that I think goes potentially to the core of some of the legislative issues that affect us, post-Brexit."

"It was a fairly robust meeting... certainly there are concerns in terms of what assurances we will want with regard to how this process will be carried out, or what the engagement will be with the devolved governments and the principles that will underpin it."

He said he had been given a 100 page document on the proposals, but he had not had the opportunity to read it by the time of the committee meeting.

Mick Antoniw is Wales' counsel general and minister for the constitution

Mr Antoniw said there were already concerns with the review, which he said had a "wide mandate".

"I think a whole range, potentially, of devolved areas are going to be impacted by a review of EU retained law," he said.

"It has been rushed through and there hasn't been the sort of engagement that should take place in a respectful relationship".

The row comes despite a previous announcement of a new forum for talks between the UK and devolved governments to help them work together.

Labour MS Alun Davies asked if it had been "cock up or conspiracy" on the part of the UK government.

Mr Antoniw said he did not want to speculate, but said he had "certainly felt quite angry".

On Tuesday Boris Johnson said the plans would allow the UK to shape better regulations in areas where it is "strong" - citing areas like cyber technology, artificial intelligence, and gene editing.

The prime minister said: "There are things that we can do differently in a way that will encourage business to invest even more."

"We won't diverge for the sake of it, but we're going to make sure this is the number one place to invest and do business because of freedoms that we have," he added.

A UK government spokesperson said: "We continue to work closely and collaboratively with the devolved governments to ensure that a common approach can be taken where powers and law have returned from the EU, which intersect with policy areas that fall within devolved competence.

"The details of the bill will be brought forward in due course.

"Our objective is to make it easier to amend or remove outdated EU law which is no longer right for the UK and end its special status in our legal framework"