Interparliamentary Forum - 24 March 2023

On 24 March 2023, the third meeting of the Interparliamentary Forum took place in the House of Commons. Chairs and Convenors of Committees from the Scottish Parliament, Senedd Cymru, House of Commons and House of Lords attended. 

A joint statement was issued, as below.

Joint statement

The Interparliamentary Forum (IPF) met for the third time on 24 March 2023 in the House of Commons in Westminster. The meeting was chaired by William Wragg MP, Chair of the House of Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, and attended by representatives from the Scottish Parliament, Senedd Cymru, and the House of Lords. An official from the Northern Ireland Assembly also attended as an observer.

The forum held an initial discussion on the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, and shared a concern that the full picture of the body of retained EU law is not clear and there needs to be greater emphasis on visibility of where a decision is taken to remove or alter REUL under the legislation. Consistent and early communication between the relevant committees in the respective legislatures, building on the established mutually constructive relationships, would be essential, noting what is being asked of devolved legislatures and governments.  The issues of the Sewel convention and legislative consent, and scope of delegated legislation were also explored in the opening discussion.

Sir Oliver Heald, Co-Chair of the UK-EU Parliamentary Partnership Assembly (PPA) joined the Forum to update it on how the PPA has operated in its first year and to discuss provisional topics for the next PPA meeting in Brussels.

Finally, the Forum met with Felicity Buchan MP, Under Secretary of State, DLUHC, and discussed the first year of the new intergovernmental relations arrangements. The Forum raised the issue of a need for greater consistency and transparency of intergovernmental relations meetings including common frameworks

Attendees

• William Wragg MP, Chair of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, House of Commons
• Lord Kinnoull, Chair of the European Affairs Committee, House of Lords
• Baroness Drake, Chair of the Constitution Committee, House of Lords
• Huw Irranca-Davies MS, Chair of the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee, Senedd Cymru
• Llyr Gruffydd MS, Chair of the Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee, Senedd Cymru
• Clare Adamson MSP, Convener of the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee,  Scottish Parliament
• (Lord Hunt of Wirral, Chair of the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, House of Lords, attended for the first part of the meeting)