What I can say is that the Welsh Ministers have no desire to amend retained EU law in devolved areas to reduce standards using powers given to us by this Bill. We intend to maintain the protections derived from retained EU law. We will work with the Senedd and build on existing collaboration with stakeholders to address retained EU law as appropriate.

But let me take you through some of the main substantive concerns about the Bill's provisions, as we set out in our original legislative consent memorandum on 3 November 2022. There are a range of measures in the Bill that destabilise and jeopardise the devolution settlement. Firstly, we believe that any powers to amend retained EU law within devolved areas should reside in the first instance with the Welsh Ministers. Where powers under the Bill are exercisable by UK Government Ministers in devolved areas, then this should, as a minimum, be subject to an affirmative consent requirement of the Welsh Ministers in advance, and this should be on the face of the Bill. This is a fundamental point of constitutional integrity, which needs to be addressed as a priority. Any exercise of that power that could see the UK Government legislating in a devolved area without Welsh Ministers' consent would be unacceptable, both to the Welsh Government but also to the Senedd. We have pressed this with UK Ministers. They have declined to agree to this viewpoint, or even to express a view. We continue to pursue suitable amendments to the Bill.

Secondly, the arrangements for sunsetting retained EU law are unacceptable, because they would allow the UK Government to seek to sunset legislation made by the Senedd. Also, the deadline of 31 December 2023 is, of course, totally unreasonable and carries huge risks. Thirdly, if all this work cannot be completed by the sunsetting date, the Bill must give Welsh Ministers powers to extend the deadline in order to avoid undesirable and potentially calamitous gaps in the statute book, just as it does for UK Ministers. It is just constitutionally unacceptable for the Welsh Ministers to have to ask UK Ministers to exercise this power on their behalf.

Finally, as regards the devolution settlement, we cannot accept any scenario where changes in devolved areas could be restricted under the Bill's provisions. At present, there is an unfair and imprecise requirement that changes to retained EU law should not increase the regulatory burden. It is imperative that devolved Governments and legislatures are left to regulate in a way that they see fit, without interference from the UK Government in devolved matters. Any restrictions within the Bill itself or through its wider interaction with the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 that would prevent devolved Governments from being able to change retained EU law to maintain or raise standards would be incompatible with devolution.

More generally, we have further concerns regarding the delivery of the Bill and its wider impacts. Firstly, the Bill is rushed and it creates a large and unwelcome administrative burden for Welsh Government, and creates additional scrutiny work in the Senedd. We are now only nine months away from a huge body of important law potentially being extinguished. It is very disturbing; there is no clear position from UK Ministers on how they intend to use the powers the Bill gives them to retain these provisions. We have such little time, not only to take actions to ensure that retained EU law we want to maintain in devolved areas is preserved, but also to consider the impact of UK Government decisions on our devolved responsibilities.

Secondly, as you know, business organisations, unions and many others have expressed concern about the UK Government's approach, especially the lack of clarity and the rushed timescale. We urge the UK Government to listen to the legitimate concerns of stakeholders who know the regulatory system well. They are keen to maintain its benefits to business, to citizens and to the natural environment, and we as Welsh Government are happy to do so with stakeholder groups in Wales as soon as the UK's position is clear and we know what we face.

Finally, we expect that, where policy is within the scope of devolved settlements and there is an appropriate common framework in place, the UK Government will live up to its commitments and that the inter-governmental mechanism will be fully engaged. I'm sure that the Senedd shares our fundamental concerns about this Bill. Diolch, Llywydd.