Government of Wales Bill

My Lords, we support this amendment, and it is a pleasant duty to do so, given the exchanges that took place earlier. There is clear agreement between us on the importance of this amendment, which addresses the ability of the Secretary of State to refuse to lay an Order in Council before Parliament if the Assembly has passed a resolution asking for a referendum to be held. On report, we agreed that a two-thirds majority is appropriate, but others did not agree. Given that that is now in the Bill, it is nothing short of scandalous that the Secretary of State has the power to deny such a request. Either there is a belief in democracy or there is not. The process in the Bill is clearly not democratic, as the Secretary of State can veto an Order in Council for a referendum to be held. The noble Lord, Lord Roberts of Conwy, has deployed all the arguments about why that is wrong, and I do not wish to delay the House further. I entirely agree with him that a referendum is a special category and that to deny a referendum is not appropriate. He is clearly also right to say that only Parliament should have the power to overrule the Assembly in such a situation. Therefore, we support the noble Lord’s amendment.