Wales: Governance

My Lords, having played a small part in trying to devise a better means of government in Wales for more years than I care to remember, may I warmly congratulate the Government on their evolutionary approach, in particular for Westminster to be less prescriptive? Parliament has traditionally been reluctant to give Henry VIII powers to Ministers. Surely it must be right for Westminster to legislate more generally and to give powers that it would not otherwise give to a democratically elected Assembly. I welcome in particular a more consistent approach to the drafting of legislation—an old hobby horse of mine when I was Attorney-General. Having said all that, I wonder what thought the Government have given to the possibility of governments at Westminster and Cardiff not being of the same colour. How well would the present proposals work in those circumstances?