Government of Wales Bill

Not for the first time, I found the most surprising intervention in a debate to be one from a Liberal Democrat spokesman. On two different grounds, the hon. Member for Montgomeryshire (Lembit Öpik) totally missed the point. First, he made the amazing suggestion that, having had a referendum of the people of Wales on the question of whether they wanted a very restricted form of devolution—many of the Members representing Plaid Cymru, along with others, were unhappy about that—no further reference to referendums should be allowed. This is a new constitutional concept, and evidently it is one that the Liberal Democrats might spread to other matters. The idea is that one makes a tiny decision and thereafter no movement from it should ever be allowed, whatever the circumstances, because one has signed up for ever to a rolling programme. The only question is whether it rolls fast or slow. This amazing and unusual proposal should have appeared in the Liberal Democrat manifesto. It took some doing, but I read that document. As far as I understand, it was never likely to contain such a proposal.