Brexit: Ex-minister David Jones enters power row

BBC David JonesBBC
David Jones led the Welsh arm of the Vote Leave campaign for the EU referendum

There is a "good argument" for some EU powers to go to Westminster rather than Wales after Brexit, former Welsh Secretary David Jones has said.

Agriculture and economic development are both run by Welsh ministers, who say the EU powers should come to them.

But UK ministers intend keeping the powers in an initial "holding pattern", before finding a long-term solution.

Mr Jones, also a former Brexit minister, said there was a case for UK-wide decision-making on some matters.

First Minister Carwyn Jones has accused Whitehall ministers of making a "naked power-grab" attacking the foundations of devolution.

'Race to the bottom'

But, speaking on BBC Radio Wales, the Clwyd West MP said: "The farming unions, including the Welsh farming unions, actually do recognise that we do need a UK-wide framework for agricultural policy once we leave the European Union.

"Otherwise I think what we'd get in agricultural terms is a race to the bottom among the various devolved areas of the country," he told the Good Morning Wales programme.

"So I think that there is a good argument for saying that some powers should reside at a UK level so that they can be properly exercised.

"Others will pass down to the devolved assemblies and parliaments and I think what we need to do is make sure the UK government works with the devolved assemblies to come up with the right level for each particular power."

David Jones was appointed a junior minister at the Department for Exiting the European Union after leading the Welsh arm of the successful Vote Leave campaign for the June 2016 referendum.

He was dropped from the government after the general election in June .