Government of Wales Bill

I will come to that later in my speech. Despite the extensive and costly consultation by the Richard commission, the only solution that the Welsh Labour party came up with to move Wales forward was to turn to the Secretary of State’s other hat as the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Is that lack of fresh thinking proof that his dual role is starting to take its toll? We cannot find anywhere other than Northern Ireland where Orders in Council exist or any example where they have worked well. The Orders in Council set a precedent for political interference in a formal constitutional process by putting in the Secretary of State as doorkeeper to the new legislative initiatives. His party might hold high hopes of being in power for ever, but surely the role of any sensible politician in the devolved nation is to ensure that the long-term interest of Wales is secured above and beyond ephemeral political victories. To misunderstand that is fundamentally to misunderstand the nature of devolution. Perhaps Wales Office staff should also write a memo on devolution for the Secretary of State’s attention. I understand that such a memo has been sent to all other central Government offices. I would like to say a few words about part 5, which deals with finance. We welcome the setting up of a Welsh Consolidated Fund. That will bring more scrutiny and accountability to the finances of the Welsh Assembly and enable Welsh Assembly Members better to engage in the issues of probity and value for money. As the running costs of the Welsh Assembly and the Secretary of State for Wales will be deducted from the Welsh block grant before being put into the Welsh Consolidated Fund, will the Auditor General for Wales be able to investigate and comment on the expenditure of the Wales Office? This money comes directly out of the Wales block grant. During the Bill’s consideration in Committee, we also wish to consider the Barnett formula, which has been mentioned before. It was set up in 1978 and has been updated on a regular population-related basis. The 1978 element still remains and, since then, the population of Scotland has fallen in absolute terms as well as relative to the populations of England and Wales, while the Welsh population has risen. Although it has fallen in terms of England, it has risen substantially in terms of Scotland. This is no way to continue to fund the devolved Assemblies and Parliament and it would have been good if the Government had taken the opportunity to address this anachronism and anomaly that even Lord Barnett now says is inappropriate. The Welsh Assembly does not have the powers to vary taxation that the Scottish Parliament has, so would the Government consider including in any referendum the opportunity for the Welsh people to express an opinion on that issue? Income tax-varying powers have been difficult to utilise in Scotland, but it may be that Wales should have powers over corporation tax or the unified business rate to encourage the economic development in Wales that still lags behind that in England. It would be interesting to hear the Government’s view on these matters. The Liberal Democrats will certainly support the Bill’s Second Reading. However, there is much work to be done in Committee, so that the people of Wales will have confidence that the Welsh Assembly has the necessary powers to guide the delivery of services for which it is responsible.