I am sorry, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I set that hare running myself. If I may, I shall just give the hon. Member for Monmouth (David T.C. Davies) one sentence in response before getting back to the subject of the amendments. I want to remind him that Welsh Assembly Members have responsibilities that were not formerly held by Ministers in the Wales Office. I shall be happy to discuss this with him outside the Chamber; perhaps he overestimates the amount that Ministers did before the Welsh Assembly was set up.
There are insufficient Assembly Members, so we are now having artificially to protect the Committee structure. In some ways, that is an unavoidable consequence of the size of the Assembly. Furthermore, if the Deputy Ministers operate sometimes as stand-in Ministers and sometimes as Back Benchers, it will achieve exactly what we have tried to avoid, which is to blur the distinction between the Welsh Assembly Government and the Welsh Assembly as an institution in itself. Will the Minister explain what firewalls will exist, both psychologically and morally, for someone who can run with the fox and run with the hounds—someone who is occasionally part of the Welsh Assembly Government and who at other times freelances as a Back Bencher?
Government of Wales Bill
Proceeding contribution from
Lembit Opik
(Liberal Democrat)
in the House of Commons on Tuesday, 28 February 2006.
It occurred during Debate on bills on Government of Wales Bill.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
443 c139-40 
Session
2005-06
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Subjects
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Timestamp
2024-04-21 20:20:23 +0100
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