Government of Wales Bill

I accept that and look forward to the Conservative party devoting one of its Opposition days to a call for the revision of the Barnett formula. We would support such a motion, as we will support the Liberal Democrats in the Lobby tonight. This matter is far too important to be left to party politics. The hon. Member for Chesham and Amersham mentioned the First Minister, Rhodri Morgan, and said that he supported the Barnett formula. I am sure that he does now, but in 1997 he told the Treasury Committee that the formula was ““detrimental”” to Wales. Moreover, he said in an interview with John Humphrys that the formula was"““putting a lot of pressure on expenditure in Wales. We now cannot keep up with the percentage increases in health and education that the Department of Health and the Department of Education and Employment are doing in England.””" That shows that the First Minister at that time supported our proposals. As has happened all too often, however, he has failed to support our position now. The Government claim that there is no evidence for the position adopted by my party and others, but there is plenty, and the amount is growing. As the hon. Member for Montgomeryshire (Lembit Öpik) said, even the formula’s progenitor agrees that it is long overdue for revision. If we do not act now, we will continue to suffer. I appeal to Labour Members—we must move away from the Barnett formula. It is detrimental to Wales, and Northern Ireland is also beginning to suffer from the effects of the Barnett squeeze. The problem will continue to get worse, unless and until we get a proper formula that is fair to the nations of these islands and to the regions of England. It is a matter of territorial justice; for example, per capital expenditure on public services in some parts of the south-west region of England is very low. We need a root and branch reform of the allocation of finances in these islands.