Government of Wales Bill

My Lords, I could not agree more with the noble Lord, Lord Livsey. It is essential that the First Minister should be a Member of the Assembly. But I assure him that the amendment is unnecessary. Clause 46 provides that the First Minister is to be appointed in accordance with Clause 47, which states that the Assembly must,"““nominate an Assembly Member for appointment””." Therefore, the condition that the First Minister must be an Assembly Member is already in the Bill. Amendment No. 28 would insert a provision that the First Minister must tender his resignation to the Queen if the Assembly passes a vote of no confidence. It is also unnecessary, but this is a very important point, and I am not surprised that the noble Lord wants reassurance on it. Clause 48 provides that the Welsh Ministers must resign if there is a vote of no confidence in them. If that happens, it triggers Clause 47, which requires the Assembly to begin the process of appointing a First Minister if certain events occur. The noble Lord will have noticed that one of those events is,"““the Assembly resolving that the Welsh Ministers no longer enjoy the confidence of the Assembly””." That triggers the process. During the period between nomination and appointment of a new First Minister, the First Minister will remain in office because there must be someone in Government from whom the civil servants who are the staff of the Welsh Assembly Government can derive their authority to act. However when a different person is appointed as First Minister, the former First Minister ceases to hold office as a result of Clause 46(4). I hope that the noble Lord has received the assurances that he needs to withdraw his amendment.