Member

These are not simply theoretical and abstract constitutional questions; they go to the heart of the effective delivery of the Bill. I know that the devolved settlement with respect to the NHS in Wales is not simply an administrative or theological distinction; it matters. During the Covid pandemic, when I was a Cabinet Office Minister, I was talking weekly, sometimes daily, to the Welsh First Minister, Mark Drakeford, about the way in which Wales, entirely legitimately, would choose to take a divergent path when it came to non-pharmaceutical interventions in order to deal with Covid-19. Co-ordinating those was a matter for all of us, but it was the right of the Welsh Government, and in tune and in sympathy with the Welsh people, that Mark Drakeford would put forward a very different approach from that which prevailed in other parts of the United Kingdom. It has been clear, and the point has been made by Members of the Senedd, that if this legislation comes forward, the impact on resourcing for NHS Wales, and in particular the impact on the provision of palliative care, will be adverse.