Government of Wales Bill

Perhaps I can help the hon. Gentleman. It will not happen very often, but perhaps on this occasion I will help him. What has happened here is that those people have gone away and looked at the reality of where we are now against the historical process that we have come through with regard to referendums in Wales and they have determined that what is more sensible is the sort of proposition that has come from my hon. Friend. It does not debar the process from being revisited within sensible periods of time, but it does stop—I dread to say this because I do not want to start the hon. Member for Montgomeryshire (Lembit Öpik) off again about Northern Ireland. It is a strange twist on the ““Vote early, vote often”” theory that we have had from the Liberal Democrats. There ought to be a great deal of support for the argument that has come from the Select Committee. It recognises that the mechanism needs to be enshrined in the Bill, but there is a tempered process that provides proper periods for reflection not only by the Houses of Parliament and the Assembly but by the people of Wales so that processes that have been put in place have the opportunity to mature. The Assembly is a new institution. I forget when it was set up, but it has not had much of a life yet to mature. I differ from the right hon. Member for Suffolk, Coastal in that I struggle with this question. Is the process that we are putting in place sufficient to justify a referendum now? I come down in a different position to him, but if we are going to look for primary powers we have to have a referendum. This seems to me the sensible process that follows that.