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Welsh Finance Minister Mark Drakeford gave a damning account of the talks between the leaders of the devolved administrations and the UK Government about the plans for Brexit.

Representatives of the different governments come together behind closed doors for meetings of the Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC) – but Mr Drakeford painted a picture of disorganisation and “constant frustration”.

He told a House of Lords committee that if you wanted to take a “pejorative view” you “would say that the JMC has been a vehicle for managing and suppressing difficult issues rather than addressing and engaging with them”.

Stressing the need for it to be “better run”, he described agendas arriving less than 24 hours before meetings, a lack of minutes which left ministers unable to track progress and even uncertainty about the room where the meeting would take place.

Fears of a UK Government power-grab

Mr Drakeford cautioned that these are “perilous times in many ways for the future of the United Kingdom” and warned the UK Government against any attempt to “grab” powers that are today held by Brussels on topics for which the Assembly is responsible.

He said: “[We] are increasingly concerned that our view of things and the UK Government’s view of things may not be identical...

“This is a fundamentally important point from our point of view. I sometimes think some UK ministers certainly believe that when the European Union isn’t there that these powers will be somehow free floating and if they grab them first they will be able to make decisions and devolved administrations will have to live with those decisions. That’s absolutely not the way that we see it...

“The point I make to UK ministers is that if they wish to operate in that way they will have to legislate to take powers away from the devolved administrations.”

(Image: PA)

Think how Scotland would react to attempt to take back powers

Mr Drakeford did not rule out discussions about how the UK should function post-Brexit but said: “[It] is a matter of us coming to that table voluntarily to do those things rather thant the UK Government thinking that it can grab these competencies as we leave the European Union and then impose a set of arrangements on the rest of us.

“I’m putting it in reasonably stark terms because I think [if] we’re not careful this is going to become a very significant area of dispute between the devolved administrations. It matters a lot to Wales.

“You can imagine how legislation to roll back existing devolution would play out in the current Scottish context.”

Former Plaid Cymru leader Dafydd Wigley also gave evidence and warned of potential conflict.

Describing how the Welsh devolution settlement has changed, he said: “The assumption is that everything is devolved unless it’s specifically retained at Westminster and therefore that I believe should be the approach with regard to the powers coming back from Brussels, that if they are in devolved areas then the assumption would be they would be devolved.”

Lord Wigley suggested that Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s push for a new independence referendum could have been avoided if the UK had shown a greater sensitivity to desires in Scotland to keep full access to the single market.

(Image: Sky News)

He said: “I don’t believe that there has been an acceptance in the approach from the Prime Minister of the need to be sensitive to the different aspirations and circumstances in the various parts of these islands. Indeed, I suspect that had there been a more sensitive approach to that we wouldn’t have had the statement made by Nicole Sturgeon on Monday of this week.

“I mean, she was clearly looking for some way of access to a single market and were it possible to differentiate in a way that would allow that question at least to be addressed, I suspect that she would still be on board in a different way to what exists now.”

He further warned: “I believe that there will be a need to return to an approach of greater flexibility if we are going to avoid this becoming totally divisive.”

Nations should decide what powers to share

Former Welsh Secretary Peter Hain also gave evidence and called for a new model of devolution, where nations and regions decide what powers they want to be “shared at a federal UK level”

He said: “I think there is going to be an imperative – both an imperative and a necessity – to deal with the wider constitutional fall-out from Brexit on Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.”

Lord Hain added: “I think that model would better suit the consequences from the fall-out from Brexit, keep the union together – which is important from my own personal political point of view – but also make sure that all the interests [of the nations] are protected... And that might deal with some of the stresses that are coming particularly from Scotland and Northern Ireland at the moment.”