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European Union Bill

The hon. Gentleman asked the Minister why the Bill's language is about the ““transfer”” of competences, rather than the ““pooling”” or ““sharing”” of competences, which has been the language used previously. I put it him—the Minister might not put it this way—that the notion of ““pooling”” or ““sharing”” competences does not fully explain what has been happening over the years and that those are weasel words. A competence ““shared”” is, in fact, a competence transferred and a competence fully transferred is not even shared. The correct word to use is ““transferred”” and I give the Minister credit for doing that.