Government of Wales Bill

My Lords, I have a great deal of sympathy with the amendments. In this context, the House should aim to avoid, on the one hand, rigidity and, on the other hand, a situation where it seems that the Welsh Assembly is not trusted to run its own House properly and in order. As for rigidity, there is no doubt that the d’Hondt system could lead to distortions. That would do no credit to the Welsh Assembly. It is an immensely complicated system. I have never yet met anyone who is totally confident that he or she understands it. It was said of the Schleswig-Holstein dilemma in the mid-19th century that only three persons ever understood it. One of them had died, one had gone mad and the third had forgotten everything about it. It may or may not be that three persons ever understood the d’Hondt system, but it is flawed and not worthy of the Assembly. The Assembly can properly exercise its proper discretion in that connection. I said a short while ago with regard to the Presiding Officer, my noble friend Lord Elis-Thomas, that he was a fascinating politician, but that I did not always accept his views as infallible. In this matter, I wholeheartedly agree with him, and he is in a very good position to judge exactly how it should be handled. I very much hope that the Government will be sympathetic to the views of those in favour of the amendments. The noble Lord, Lord Davies of Oldham, was not correct in Committee. It is not a case of being able to contract in to a system; there is a loophole to contract out of it, which is a very different matter.