David Lidington Briefings

Good afternoon. It is a pleasure to

be with you this afternoon in Bolton

and I want first to thank Airbus for

the hospitality. This company is a

great success story, a success story

for Wales, for the United Kingdom

and for Europe. This is the biggest

private-sector employer here in this

place but with two fifths of workers

commuting every day from homes in

England and, of course, Airbus is

part of the European enterprise that

is now operating over five

continents and employing people from

more than 130 different

nationalities. It is a vivid example

from the business world of how

diversity in unity can make for a

global success. And it is those same

characteristics that have very much

defined the success of the United

Kingdom over the years. The

different nations that make up our

country have had a long, often

uneasy, history. The castle is just

a few miles down the road from here

remind us of ancient quarrels, but

the shared experience and solidarity

of our formation at times of great

success and grave danger alike have

come to represent one of the most

powerful and enduring symbols of

freedom, liberty and democracy

anywhere in the world, and the

proudest citizen of Aberdeen,

Plymouth, Coleraine or indeed

Brighton, Kemptown huge pride in

also being part of the United

Kingdom, a united kingdom greater

than the sum of its parts. As we

prepare to leave the EU, preserving

and strengthening that union of the

United Kingdom matters more than

ever.

As we negotiate a new partnership

with our friends and neighbours in

Europe and forge a new role for the

United Kingdom in the world, we must

work for the future that fosters

wealth creation, opportunity and

innovation in every part of the

United Kingdom, and which

strengthens the sense of security,

belonging and solidarity in all

communities, building a country that

really does work for everyone. We

are at a crossroads in our history,

we face a choice. The choice that

represents the difference between a

prosperous, secure nation that is

united at home and strong abroad,

and a broader country, divided at

home and eat weaker player on the

global stage. This choice is not

about whether we leave the European

Union. As many of you will know, I'm

bloated and campaign very hard to

remain in the EU, as did many other

people in this country. But I

recognise, as indeed do are 27

European partners, that the people

of the United Kingdom took a

democratic decision to leave the

European Union and that is what we

must now focus our energies on

delivering, seeking both to minimise

the risks and to seize the

opportunities. The choice is

therefore not whether we believe but

how we choose to do so. We could

leave as a nation divided, a country

split, an economy disjointed,

struggling to forge a unified

consensus on the way ahead. But

there are opportunities as well,

opportunities we can see is if we

come together comedy night and

develop into that stronger global

Britain, which we can be. There were

many different reasons why people

voted to leave the EU in 2016, but

reflecting on that campaign, I think

that above all else, people

throughout the country sought to

regain a feeling of control, not

just control over our laws, but over

our lives to the people we elect

into office. When you talk to people

on the doorstep, what you find is

that vote was expressing not just a

rejection of membership of the EU,

but the demand to bring

decision-making into accountability

closer to home, to restore a sense

of belonging in communities, a sense

of connection between the electorate

and the elected. Yes, we had to

ensure that breaks it means more

power is going to be devolved

governments and not fewer. But I

believe that to renew that sense of

connection between citizen and

government, we need to press on as

well with a broader issue to deliver

greater freedom, more power to act

to cities, towns and counties in all

parts of the United Kingdom. I hope

the devolved governments will choose

to take that approach as well. After

all, by someone in Broughton or

Llandudno, Cardiff can seem as

distant as London. From the

perspective of Orkney, prior cheese

made with very different from those

of central Scotland. Our aim should

be nothing less than to see our

entire country coming together and

having their voices heard. It means

people here in Wales as well as in

Scotland, Northern Ireland and

England, and it means our villages,

towns, cities and communities

throughout the UK all having a voice

as well. At the heart of the

Conservative political tradition is

both patria tourism, loyalty to the

special shared union of the United

Kingdom, but also a commitment not

just to individual rights but to the

vital importance of family and

community, of village, town and

county, in enabling individual men

and women to find meaning, value and

fulfilment in their lives. As Edmund

Burke put it more than 200 years

ago, to be attached to the

subdivision, to love the little

platoon we belong to in society is

the first principle, the germ, as it

were, public affections. It is the

first link by which we proceeded to

of our country and of mankind. And I

suspect that most of those here

derive our sense of who we are from

many different sources, from our

family, from where we live, perhaps

from a sports club or choral Society

or community group we support, in

many cases from our religious faith

and of course, from our nation. In

the United Kingdom, we know there is

no contradiction between being an

ardent Welsh Scottish patriot and

being a committed supporter of the

Union. If I needed a reminder of

that truth, it was when the

Secretary of State for Scotland was

gloating to me about the rugby

result on Saturday. Looking back to

last century, I think that my party

was too slow to recognise the

increasing calls for devolution and

decentralisation represented a

genuine shift in public mood. I

think if dealer look at our record

in government in the last eight

years, we have demonstrated we got

that message. The two Scotland's

Acts in 2012 and 2016, have made

Hollywood one of the most powerful

parliament of its kind in the world.

City deals in Scotland, backed by UK

Government spending, have now been

agreed or committed to for all of

Scotland's southern cities. That

Wales Act is delivering a better

devolution settlement for Wales.

City deals for Cardiff and Swansea

and the future in North Wales growth

deal are supporting industries and

jobs of tomorrow. The passage of

English votes for English laws at

Westminster means MPs representing

English voters rightly have the

final say on issues which matter

directly to them and to their

constituents. We have created new,

combined authorities with elected

mayors across England, but in power

firmly in the hands of local people

in the West Midlands, the West of

England, Cambridge, greater

Manchester, Liverpool and Sheffield.

This government will continue to

strive to restore devolution in

Northern Ireland, and will remain

fully committed to the Belfast

Agreement. We will continue to

govern in the interests of all parts

of the community in Northern Ireland

and to uphold the totality of the

relationships embodied in that

agreement. Both East, west and

north, south. And we shall stand by

the commitments in the joint report

between the UK and the EU that was

agreed in December last year. But

while we can take pride in that

record of progress in decentralising

power, we can and should go further

to drive forward both the economic

and political regeneration of our

country. So we are working with both

devolved and local authorities to

help them coordinate their own

economic plans with our UK wide

national industrial strategy,

bringing together local businesses

and leaders to deliver growth,

enterprise and job creation in every

part of our country. We are

supporting combined authorities

located around our English cities to

adopt elected mayors should they

wish to do so. We will bring forward

a borderlands growth deal, including

all the councils on both the

Scottish and English sides of the

border, to help secure prosperity in

southern Scotland. We will build on

the future North Wales growth deal,

but also fostering opportunities

between Welsh cities and the rest of

the UK, for example by linking

economic development opportunities

in Cardiff, Newport and Bristol. And

we have committed to looking at the

city deal for Belfast. At the same

time, we are unapologetically

committed to the constitutional

integrity of the United Kingdom, so,

alongside those initiatives to bring

more power is closer to the people,

we are working to ensure that the

institutions and the power of the UK

are used in a way that benefits

people in every part of our country.

For a country that not only has a

shared past, but continues today to

draw strengths from all parts of the

Union, there are more than 31,000

United Kingdom civil servants based

here in Wales, including in our new

UK Government hub in Cardiff. Eight

out of ten goods lorries leaving

Wales go to the rest of the UK,

highlighting the importance of the

United Kingdom- wide market.

Bombarding a's factory in Belfast

has a supply chain of 800 companies

throughout the UK and Ireland,

supporting thousands of highly

skilled jobs. And it is from the

Department for International

Development headquarters in East

Kilbride, Scotland, that the UK's

International work to vaccinate

children against killer diseases, to

educate girls and provide clean

water and sanitation to people who

desperately needed, is driven. And

of course, are based on the Clyde,

home to thousands of shipbuilding

jobs, is central to the UK's defence

capabilities. Put simply, we are all

more prosperous and secure when we

work together for our common good as

one United Kingdom. Leaving the EU

presents many challenges for our

centuries-old union story, and

opportunities as well. And someone

to use this as an excuse to loosen

the ties that bind us together or

even sever them completely. I

believe such an outcome would lead

every one of our four nations both

weaker and crueller. The task before

us is not an easy one, it is

complex. How do we alone greater

control across England's Scotland,

Wales and Northern Ireland over the

things that affect them separately,

while preserving the things that

affect us all collectively, as we

return powers from Brussels to the

United Kingdom. How do we ensure

that a new wave of devolution

delivers for the people of Scotland,

Wales, England and Northern Ireland,

but at the same time, protects the

essence of our Union. For a start,

all the governments together have

agreed that we will need to have

frameworks that breakdown which

powers should sit where, once they

have returned from Brussels, and

that is a sensible and constructive

approach, because these powers are

not all the same. Some are very

obviously for the devolved

governments and parliaments to

exercise, and they don't need any

involvement on the UK- wide basis.

For example, the devolved

governments are best place to manage

the safety and quality of the water

people living their drink, as well

as looking after and caring for the

natural environment. At the same

time, there are other powers which

are, yes, for the devolved

government to shape according to the

needs and ambitions, and where they

don't need legislation to underpin

how what they do relates to the

other nations of the UK, but where

it would nevertheless still be in

everybody's interests to agree a

loose form of cooperation, perhaps a

memorandum of understanding between

the devolved and UK governments. For

instance, we will need to be able to

continue to work together on

important domestic policy areas. For

example, ensuring that a vital organ

that is donated by someone in one

part of the United Kingdom can still

be used transplant to treat a

patient in another part of the

Kingdom. Those powers should still

rightly be devolved, not

centralised, and that is the offer

we have put on the table. But on the

other hand, some powers are clearly

related to the UK as a whole and

will need to continue to apply in

the same way across all four

nations, in order to protect

consumers and businesses who buy and

sell across the UK. In all parts of

what we might call the United

Kingdom's Common Market. That market

is one of the fundamental

expressions of the constitutional

integrity that underpins our

existence as a union. The government

will protect that vital Common

Market of the UK. By retaining UK

frameworks were necessary, we will

retain our ability, not only to act

on the national interest when we

need to, but to do so with the unity

of purpose that places the

prosperity and security of other

citizens, no matter where they are

from or where they were born, to the

front. For example, at present, EU

law means that our farmers and other

food producers already to comply

with one set of package labelling

and hygiene rules. For different

sets of rules in different parts of

the UK would only it more ethical

than more expensive for a

cheesemaker in Monmouthshire to sell

to customers in Bristol, or body

cattle farmer in Aberdeen Shire to

sell his beef in Berwick-upon-Tweed.

These are everyday issues affecting

how people live their lives. They

are the issues that people in the UK

expect governments to get on and a

delay in a clear interest of

families and businesses in every

part of England's, Scotland, Wales

and Northern Ireland alike. So that

is entirely what the United Kingdom

government stands ready, waiting and

willing to do.

An to ensure that the factory can

continue to sell, that the family

firm in Swansea can continue to buy

supplies in Swindon, and customers

in Londonderry can still placed

orders in Leeds without any extra

red tape or expense. And I want to

say one thing for that. The Prime

Minister has been clear throughout

the negotiations with the European

Union that we want to preserve the

standard super tech employment and

workers' rights, to deliver consumer

protection and safeguard the

environment. That means keeping

these high standards right across

the whole of the United Kingdom, and

for our part as the United Kingdom

Government, we are committed to

working in partnership with the

devolved governments to ensure that

those standards are universal in all

four parts of our country. It is

fair to say that the road to agree

on how we go forward together has

not always been a smooth and

straight bond. Along with my

predecessors in the Cabinet Office

and the secretaries of State for

Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

have engage closely with the

devolved governments to understand

their concerns and respond to them.

They have been expressed clearly and

often forthrightly, but we have

continued to talk. Both that

political and official level, and

even more importantly, we have

continued to listen. The Prime

Minister's first visit after

entering Downing Street was to

Edinburgh. Two of my first phone

calls upon moving across to the

Cabinet Office last month were to

the Deputy First Minister of

Scotland and the First Minister of

Wales. I met them both in person

during my first weeks in this role

to underline my personal commitment

to engaging constructively, and

striking the agreement that is in

all interest. While they have always

acknowledged that the Government has

said we want to seek many of the

powers from Brussels go straight to

the devolved governments, there has

been a question throughout about

what our starting point should be.

Should those powers sit at a UK wide

level while we then agreed a future

framework? Or should be set at the

devolved level well be a dream --

well be a great Davey? We have a

different point of view and to the

views expressed in the devolved

parliament. Just last week, we held

constructive discussions in London,

where we put forward a considerable

offer- a commitment that the vast

majority are powers returning from

Brussels will start off in

Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast and

19 Whitehall. And let me be in no

doubt, this would be a very big

change to the EU withdrawal build

bridges before Parliament, and a

significant step forward in these

negotiations. It but put on the face

of the bill what we have always said

would be our attention, wide ranging

devolution not just a way from

Brussels but from Westminster too.

And if accepted, this offer put

beyond doubt our commitment to a

smooth and orderly departure from

the European Union in a way that

does not just respected the

devolution settlement, but

strengthens and enhances them. Our

postal is to amend the bill before

Parliament to make clear that both

frameworks at the agreed, the

presumption would know about speed

that powers returning from the EU

should set to devolved level.

Westminster would only be involved

where, to protect the Common Market

or to meet our international

obligations we need to pause, and I

stress pass, to give the Government

is time to design and put in place a

UK wide framework. We expect to be

able to secure agreement but the

devolved Government about what

framework should or should not apply

to each power. By Palestinian to be

returned to a UK wide framework, we

would retain the ability to

legislate to do that. Just as the

current tradition with an EU

withdrawal bill on releasing powers

are intended to be by consensus and

agreement, with the devolved

governments themselves, so we should

expect these new inverted power to

operate in the same way, by

consensus and by agreement. Norma

does proposed arrangement provides a

devolved Government from doing

anything that is already within

their competence. At the same time,

our proposal offers an important

protection. It would insure that

rather not to be an agreement, and

not having an agreement on a

framework would put at risk debates

being smooth and orderly exit that

we all need, the UK parliaments

could protect the essential

interests of businesses and

consumers in every part of the

kingdom. So, I am clear that is in

the interests of all parts of the

United Kingdom to a Greek Iborra/

fully respects the devolved

settlement, that reserves the

integrity of the United Kingdom

market, and maintains the ability to

shoot an agreement with the European

Union on a future partnership. Our

new proposal is a reflection of the

seriousness of our desire to strike

agreements with the devolved

governments, our seriousness about

delivering more powers to Scotland,

Wales and Northern Ireland, while at

this time ensuring that there are no

new barriers for people across the

nations of the United Kingdom, so

families can continue to buy and

sell it freely, so businesses will

not face except the rocky sea at

higher cost, so people they minimal

destruction to their everyday lives,

and maximum security in the future.

I hope the talks that are Mounted

Regiment will lead in the coming

weeks to an agreement to take

forward ended the withdrawal build,

and which we can all welcome to

being to our mutual benefit. As we

look to our future, this is a

balance that, working together, we

can strike. A strong and fair

devolution settlement for our

devolved honours with power sitting

at the most important level. Common

frameworks where necessary with the

constitutional integrity if

attacked. By making that kind of

agreement, we can truly become that

United Kingdom we need to be here at

all, and that greater stronger

United Kingdom abroad. For that is

the task we now face, to build a

global Britain that is fit for the

future, they could not only to

tackle head-on future global

challenges, but confident it can

seize the opportunities available to

us, and so we do speak and act on

the world stage, we do so with one

authoritative voice that both

reflects and represents the

interests of all four nations. A

country that has the strength and

flexibility to survive and even

thrive on that international stage,

and without considerable strength, I

am confident that that future can be

secure and prosperous. After all, we

at the sixth largest economy in the

world, a permanent member of the

United Nations Security Council, the

biggest European defence spending in

Nato with significant capabilities,

and a proven readiness to deploy in

defence of our interest. A key

player in a highly developed sense

of security relationships such as

Five As. Our country has one of the

best promoting services in the

world, and one of the biggest aid

and development programmes. We have

one leading universities that

attract the best talent from London

the globe, more noble laureate that

any country by the United States. A

globally competitive economy with

some exciting, burgeoning industries

like digital. In language that is

the language of the world, and

thanks to institutions like the BBC

and the National Health Service, the

greatest soft power of any nation on

the planet. But just imagine if we

spoke with more conflicting voices,

each misheard as a global

competitors shouted louder, with the

strong single voice, and a divided

country at would be weaker, less

secure, and prosperous overseas. The

unity that exists between our four

nations gives us is killer of

ambition that none of the four of us

could possess alone. We need to be

using our collective economic clout

and experience and reach of our

diplomatic network in the United

Kingdom to sell Scotch whiskey and

engineering expertise, Welsh cheeses

and many computers. Buses and levies

from Northern Ireland right around

the world. And maintaining the

Common Market of United Kingdom will

give us back the heft to lead the

charge of common regulator of

standards. We can be at the

forefront of developing the

regulatory environment we need for

the exciting technologies after one.

What the waters for an event as

right across the four patients and

to be ahead of the car. By sticking

together, we will be able to provide

global leadership, standing up and

human rights, democratic values and

the rule of law. And defending the

rule-based international order that

is so vital to our security and

prosperity together. It would be

easy to listen or even sever those

boards that connect us back, but

with a shrug demolition settlement

that ensures powers of

decision-making and exerted as close

to people as is practical, I believe

a sense of trust can be restored

between the people of the United

Kingdom and those they choose to

govern on their behalf. And with

common frameworks in place to

maintain the integrity of argued, we

can ensure we continue to speak with

a powerful voice globally, each of

those two principles strengthens the

other. Let us seasonable wit and

focus on the prize that is on offer.

A good unit greater than the sum of

its parts, a country that a strong

global leader, a United Kingdom at

home and an active force for good in

the world. Thank you very much

indeed.

APPLAUSE

We have got time for a number of

questions. I'm going to go to the

Airbus people before coming to the

press.

Good afternoon. I'm a trade

union ret. Does the Government

agreed with us that we need to be

able to freely move part to our

colleagues in Europe, and also

regarding Airbus, a lot of people

work inside the UK, and a lot of

colleagues work outside the UK as

well, what was it freely movement of

labour look like going forward?

It

is one of a number of European

bodies that we will want to have a

means of staying close to. Clearly,

those bodies are designed for EU

members, and we will no longer be an

EU member once exit has taken place

at the end of March next year. But

they were one of a number of bodies

that came up in the conversation in

Chequers last Friday, and it is

something that the PM and other

members of the Cabinet and indeed

very focused on, and we recognise

its importance to this company, but

also to an number of other very

important enterprises in the UK.

Obviously, the exact nature of the

relationship is something we will

have to negotiate. About three

moment, I think that again, in

reality is that the freedoms of the

EU are indivisible. They have been

absolutely clear about that all the

way along, and once we leave the EU,

then a free movement rights as they

currently exist under EU law will no

longer apply. We will need to have

in place and immigration system that

will cover EU nationals who

currently have the right to come and

go in order to take work. We have

been listening to what business is

it saying to us about the importance

of two thanks, about her

international companies need to be

able to move staff around between

different locations in that

international business from ten to

ten, but also more generally in the

economy, about how there are sectors

with labour shortages, and they need

to be able to have people in to fill

those shortages. Without going into

the big debates about how we need in

Britain to do more in terms of

upscaling the workforce and

improving training, not just for

school or college leavers, but

throughout people posh cameras so

there are fewer such labour

shortages in the future, those

points are ones that the Government

recognises, so clearly, in designing

a future migration relationship with

ourselves and the EU and other

countries outside of the EU, that

will be in the very forefront of our

thinking.

Another Airbus question?

I am

French, working in Broughton, and my

question was, what are your views

regarding people from the Continent

working in the UK as well as people

from the UK working in other

European countries?

You do a great

job, you're working, paying taxes,

contributing to our society. I

applaud what you and people from all

other member states of the European

Union have done in contributing to

life in this country. The referendum

to give political decision, but I

think it's very important that, that

decision having been taken, we

recognise a positive contribution

that you and other colleagues make

and continue to make in our country.

If I can move on, it is to bring

real people and men become to the

journalists?

Sky first. You said

there were many different reasons

why people voted to leave. Do you

think all of the 52% voted to leave

the customs union? And I want to

post your question posed by Jeremy

Corbyn in his speech in Coventry. He

said that, if the government

position is to leave the customs

union, then in which sectors of the

economy and industry does the

government think it would be

acceptable for there to be tariffs

between the UK and the EU?

I think

there are many different motives,

but primarily a question of a sense

that rules were being imposed on the

United Kingdom. We had the argument

about that at the time of the

referendum, but that was the

dominant theme of those voting to

leave, in their comments. On leaving

the customs union, but the Leader of

the Opposition is ignoring is that

the four freedoms and indivisible

here. I read his speech this morning

and I cannot find a coherent theme

to it. I think that if you look at

what the Prime Minister said in her

Lancaster Has speech, she said very

clearly there that we would not want

to be part of the Common Commercial

Policy and we wouldn't want to be

part of the Common External Tariff,

but we would look at an arrangement

with our partners in the EU. That

was the speech supported by

everybody in the government and my

side of the highs and parliaments,

so that would be the approach we

would continue to take. ITV?

Angus

Walker, ITV News. Many large firms

like Airbus will welcome what label

is suggesting on negotiating a

Customs Union. Will you tell large

films like Airbus if they support

that Labour position that they are

wrong? This is a speech about

devolution, but you didn't go into

detail about the Irish border. Do

you think what the EU will see on

the Irish border this week will be

acceptable or are more talks on that

issue required?

On your second

point, I'm afraid I do make it a

rule that I will not speculate about

texts that I haven't yet seen. We

are talking both to the commission

and the Irish are all the time about

these and many other matters. On

your first point, two points. One,

we have always made it plain that

our objective is to have the trading

relationship that is as frictionless

as it is possible to negotiate. It

seems to me that, if you look for

example at the balance of trading in

goods between the EU 27 and the

United Kingdom, which at the moment

is strongly in favour of the EU 27,

it is in everyone's interests that

we have that outcome at the end of

the day. On the Leader of the

Opposition's points, I think he is

ignoring some realities about the EU

and how it operates in trade

negotiations. I have been in EU

Council meetings, where we have

tried to thrash out the opening

position for a free trade

negotiation with the third country.

That is done by unanimity. The idea

that the EU would give a non-member

state the right to veto their

approach to the causation is utterly

fanciful. BBC Scotland?

BBC

Scotland. You say you are making

process with negotiations with the

Scottish Government. They remain

resolute that, as far as they're

concerned, you are disrespecting the

devolution settlement, because they

argue that all powers in the

Scottish Parliament should retain

their and it should be those powers

that be decide whether they are

decided on the UK level. They say

you are essentially playing fast and

loose with the devolution

settlement.

Now, I think that would

be a mistaken interpretation. Last

week, we had constructive set of

conversations with the Welsh and

Scottish governments. We have not

yet come to an agreement, but we

have agreed to intensify those talks

and take them further. There was a

recognition by both devolved

governments that the proposed change

to the withdrawal bill but I put on

the table did mark a very

significant move from the UK. I hope

we will bridge the final gap before

too much longer. My argument has

always been that we are determined

to respect the devolution settlement

in their entirety. When those

devolution settlement were

negotiated and then put into law

back in 1998 and 1999 and subsequent

legislation, it was done the

assumption that everybody shared

that there were certain powers that

were not devolved. This question of

how you dealt with a UK single

market because it was all done as a

European level. Now we have to work

out how we make life easy for

business but also their customers. I

don't think businesses or customers

in Scotland will benefit if there

are extra barriers to stop and

selling across the borders into

England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

BBC Wales?

Given the shift from

Labour in supporting a Customs

Union, are you concerned your

government is facing defeat on the

amendment on the Customs Union in

Parliament? One of your MPs

described new offer on the

withdrawal bill as a capitulation,

but there's still no agreement with

the Welsh government. So are you

happy to go further?

Are you happy

to do so? On your second point, we

add I Ching constructively with the

Welsh government and the Scottish

Government. Our objective is to

reach a clear agreement and I think

what we have that on the table is a

very fair offer, which maintains the

ability for us to legislate at

Westminster, where there are United

Kingdom interests involved. Both our

international obligations and the

need to protect the interests of

businesses and consumers in the

single market, while ensuring that

the default position is that, where

a power might be devolved, it would

go automatically to the devolved

level. On your first point, my first

parliament, back in 1992-97 was a

Conservative government with a very

small majority and I'm afraid I got

used to these rumours every week

about whether the government will be

defeated on this or that. I think

that when my colleagues here the

Prime Minister speak on Friday, they

will be encouraged and reassured by

what she has to say. Guardian?

Stephen.

What will you do to prove

to the devolved government is that

you will respect their views when it

comes to developing yours within

this common framework Western

remarked how can you reassure them?

It is one of the areas we are

discussing at the moment. I have

given a public commitment to that on

many occasions. And I have actually

put on the table some arrangements

where we would write in so long a

very specific requirements to

consult and publish the results from

consultation of the views of the

devolved governments in Scotland,

Wales and I hope Northern Ireland

before too long. But also that we

would write interval in requirement

for the UK Government to report back

to Parliament at very frequent

intervals, perhaps every quarter, on

why any of these powers to set

frameworks was still being held at

Westminster. I want to emphasise

that the power to hold something

back, pending the negotiating

framework, is a power intended to be

exercised as a backstop. It should

only be used proportionately and

tempered until the framework has

been put in place. And by having a

requirement for the UK Government to

have a parliamentary report at very

frequent intervals, I think would

put the pressure on any government

department in Whitehall that is

perhaps dragging its feet because it

has other business and it's not

giving the devolution question is a

top priority it needs to be given.

We are very willing to continue

talking about how we find

institutional means of ensuring we

really are delivering on a promise

we have given.