Government of Wales Bill

While I am at it, I shall quote the Conservative leader in Wales. He said:"““I find this clause odd. Things like this show the Secretary of State for Wales has the powers of a colonial governor and we are not being treated as grown-ups.””" Plaid Cymru’s Assembly deputy leader said:"““We don’t want a Secretary of State telling us what we should do with our water. I thought the whole point of devolution was to transfer power from London to the democratically elected 60 Members of the National Assembly.””" If the hon. Lady’s reading of paragraph (b) is correct, her colleagues in the National Assembly and hon. Members here—myself included—will take some comfort from that; but my ordinary reading of it suggests that it goes far broader than she has implied. It seems to me that a future Welsh Government could say, for whatever reason, that they were not willing to accept further valley drownings, and be overruled. My reading of the provision might not be correct, but that is my understanding. When the Government were asked to comment on the provision in Wales on Sunday, the Wales Office spokesman said only:"““It is a fallback provision, and would only ever be used in extreme circumstances.””" That being so, may I ask the Minister what he means by ““extreme circumstances””? If they include closing off the water supply or, worse still, fouling the water supply, does not the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 deal with them? We are owed a better explanation. I ask the Minister to give us examples of extreme circumstances and to tell the Committee that my reading of the clause is wrong and that it would not allow Parliament to override the democratic view of the National Assembly if it decided against another valley being drowned.