My Lords, no amendments were submitted and we proceed to final division.

B1369 - Government of Wales (Wireless Telegraphy) Bill

A

B I L L

T O

Amend the Government of Wales Act 2006 to reserve matters concerning wireless telegraphy; and for connected purposes.

BE IT ENACTED by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

1 Amendment to the Government of Wales Act 2006

(1) The Government of Wales Act 2006 is amended as follows.

(2) In schedule 7A (reserved matters), in the appropriate place, insert—

“Section C9
C9 Telecommunications and wireless telegraphy
83 Telecommunications and wireless telegraphy (including electromagnetic disturbance).
84 Internet services.
85 Electronic encryption.”
Exception
The subject-matter of Part III of the Police Act 1997 (authorisation to interfere with property etc.).

(3) In Schedule 1 B4 after Intercepted Communications insert;

", but not
(i) is a written communication and is intercepted there, or (ii) is intercepted in the course of its transmission by means of a private telecommunication system running there."

2 Amendment to the Wales Act 2021

The Wales Act 2021 is amended by omitting the words “Head C9 of Schedule 7A Part 2 to be struck entirely” in section 2.

3 Commencement

(1) Section 1 of this Act comes into force on the day after which Senedd Cymru resolves that they consent to this Act coming into force.

(2) For the avoidance of doubt, subsection (1) does not confer the power to—

(a) Bring into force any part of section 1 (apart from the entirety of the section);
(b) Amend this Act; or
(c) Amend any other enactment (including the Government of Wales Act 2006).

(3) Subject to the provisions of this section, this Act comes into force on the day which it is passed.

4 Commencement and short title

(1) Any amendment or repeal made by this Act has the same extent as the provision amended or repealed.

(2) This Act may be cited as the Government of Wales (Wireless Telegraphy) Act 2022.

This bill was written by Her Grace the Duchess of Essex as a Private Member’s Bill.

The Government of Wales Act 2006.

The Wales Act 2021.

Mr Speaker,

This is not a difficult bill, but it is a unique one. Most bills before this House of late seek to devolve more autonomy to Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. This bill does the opposite. I believe that telecommunications and wireless telegraphy needs to be reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

There is a reason that it’s currently reserved in the Scotland and Northern Ireland Acts and there’s a reason that (at least, I hope) Senedd Cymru will never deviate from the rest of the UK on telecommunications. Removing interoperability and consistency from our communication networks would be a disaster. Imagine, for a moment, that the Senedd established some frequency band in the same region of airband that air traffic controllers in Hampshire are trying to use to communicate with pilots over Cardiff. This is not a likely scenario but it’s the sort of situation that’s become possible under the status quo.

Truth be told there was quite simply no reason to devolve this power in the first place. Wales doesn’t look set to amend the Wireless Telegraphy Act any time soon, and if they did it would need to be in coordination with stakeholders across the UK as they scramble to maintain interoperability. Why, then, did we go to the hassle of removing it from Parliament’s jurisdiction in the first place? I can’t reach a good conclusion, and really I can only hope it was an oversight in the Wales Act that led us here.

I know that un-devolving something is a scary prospect to some. It is certainly an unusual step. But unless and until Wales is an independent country, the only effect of devolving this area is make things more difficult for Wales and more difficult for the UK. I am no enemy of the nationalists, I have served in government with them and quite enjoyed it. But this is not a rejection of nationalism. It is an acceptance of the reality that this is something best coordinated at a national level.

Thank you, Mr Speaker, I commend this bill to the House.

Lords may vote Content, Not Content, or Present. This division will end on the 9th July at 10pm BST.