Government of Wales Bill

I agree with my hon. Friend. It would also undermine the duty of care that we owe to the people of Wales of ensuring that the legislation that they will get through the hybrid system is acceptable. The buck stops with us. Why should we give a blanket exemption to the Assembly if it fails to operate in the line with the statutory powers that have been conferred on it, without which it has no power whatsoever? There are aspects of the Bill that cause concern because of the extent to which the Assembly will be able to depart from its standing orders. We want to have the necessary reassurance that the Assembly will discharge its functions under the hybrid system in the way in which Parliament intends, but the Bill will allow it to change its standing orders so that it does not scrutinise legislation fully. That is an extraordinary thing to do in part 3. It might be a proper thing to do in part 4 if we are handing over a tranche of responsibilities entirely, but doing that in part 3 is very odd. I hope that the Minister will take the first opportunity to respond to that point. I apologise for taking up so much of the Committee’s time, but the matter is important and numerous interventions have been made. If part 3 of the Bill were to be acceptable in any way, a situation in which the House did not have control over the final text of legislation to be implemented, even if the detail had been worked out by the Welsh Assembly, would be quite wrong. The amendments are designed to address that situation.