Lords agree UK Internal Market Bill after concessions

The UK Internal Market Bill is set to become law following Government concessions over devolved powers that have resolved differences with the House of Lords.

However the Welsh Government, supported by the Scottish Government, intends to bring legal proceedings over what the devolved administrations claim is still an infringement on their powers. The Scottish Parliament and Welsh Senedd have both refused legislative consent to the bill.

The bill is intended to underpin frictionless trade within the UK following the end of the Brexit transition period. The UK Government agreed to drop the separate and also controversial provisions that conflicted with the EU Withdrawal Agreement following agreement with the EU over the regulation of trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

Dispute also centred on clauses that would allow goods accepted in one part of the UK to be freely traded across the whole UK, threatening to cut across devolved powers to set standards. After peers voted for greater flexibility, ministers made some concessions which have now been approved by both Houses.

The concessions centre on strengthening the role of the "common framework agreements" provided for in the bill, as against market access principles which it was feared might provoke a "race to the bottom" on standards.

Tributes were paid during the final House of Lords debate to the contribution of retired Scottish judge Lord Hope of Craighead, who it was said had "used his skill and experience in drafting and interpreting the law to pick away at the issues and come up with a solution".

Labour said the bill was now improved, although still "far from perfect". However the Scottish Government said the bill remained "a deliberate act of constitutional sabotage", and that the "small concessions made" did "not go nearly far enough to mitigate the damage the bill will do to devolution".