Agricultural Sector (Wales) Bill (Attorney General for England and Wales, Reference): SC 9 Jul 2014

‘Her Majesty’s Attorney General for England and Wales has referred to this Court under section 112(1) of the Government of Wales Act 2006 the question of whether, on the proper construction of section 108 and Schedule 7 to the GWA 2006, the Agricultural Sector (Wales) Bill 2013 is within the legislative competence of the National Assembly of Wales’ The Welsh Government sought to retain a regime regulating agricultural wages in Wales via the Bill. The Wales Act, it said, gave it competence, but this was denied by the Attorney-General saying that the Bill regulated employment law and was outside the Government’s devolved competence.
Held: The Bill was within the competence of the Welsh Assembly.
As to section 104 of the 2006 Act: ‘As the section requires the purpose of the provision to be examined it is necessary to look not merely at what can be discerned from an objective consideration of the effect of its terms’.

Judges:

Lord Neuberger, President, Lady Hale, Deputy President, Lord Kerr, Lord Reed, Lord Thomas

Citations:

[2014] UKSC 43, [2014] 1 WLR 262, [2014] 4 All ER 789, UKSC 2013/0188

Links:

Bailii, Bailii Summary, SC, SC Summary

Statutes:

Government of Wales Act 2006 108 112(1)

Jurisdiction:

Wales

Cited by:

CitedRecovery of Medical Costs for Asbestos Diseases (Wales) Bill (Reference By The Counsel General for Wales) SC 9-Feb-2015
The court was asked whether the Bill was within the competence of the Welsh Assembly. The Bill purported to impose NHS charges on those from whom asbestos related damages were recovered.
Held: The Bill fell outside the legislative competence . .
CitedThe Christian Institute and Others v The Lord Advocate SC 28-Jul-2016
(Scotland) By the 2014 Act, the Scottish Parliament had provided that each child should have a named person to monitor that child’s needs, with information about him or her shared as necessary. The Institute objected that the imposed obligation to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Constitutional

Updated: 15 May 2022; Ref: scu.533878