Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for calling me to speak in a debate that is hugely important to me. As someone who served as a Member of the National Assembly for Wales for eight years before my six years here, almost all of my political life has been dogged—if I can use that word—by Wales Bills of one sort or another. I do not know whether I will still be a Member of this Parliament when the next round comes but, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire (Stephen Crabb) said, I am sure that there will be one.
It is a great honour to debate a particularly important Wales Bill, which makes devolution much more stable than it has been since it was first established in 1999. I could speak about a host of matters and on some of them there would be disagreement across the Floor of the House, but two principles are hugely important to me. The first relates to the fiscal issues, which I will come to, but I believe also that moving to a reserved powers model is of fundamental importance. There will be disagreements about what should be reserved to the Westminster Parliament, but generally speaking, moving to a reserved powers model will be a big step forward. People—including me—have been calling for it since 1999, and we should not forget that in the discussions about finance.
This debate is about financial issues, one of which relates to borrowing powers. I greatly support the measure, which gives the Welsh Government new and important borrowing powers. Other Members have suggested that the ceiling is not high enough, but I have heard Mark Drakeford, the responsible Minister in Cardiff, say that the Welsh Government will probably not borrow the £1 billion allowed in the first instance. I believe that the borrowing power will make a significant difference to the way the Welsh Government can operate.
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There has also been some debate about the 115% rule. Throughout my time in politics in Wales, we have heard people—usually Opposition Members—calling for a level
of spending in Wales that is the equivalent of spending in Britain, and that 115% is it. In fact, the UK Government are investing rather more than that, so the 115% is less than is being spent now. There has never been sufficient appreciation of the scale of the current Government’s funding for Wales. Complaining all the time gives the wrong impression. What has been called for since I became a Member of the Assembly in 1999 has been delivered, and I think we should recognise that.
The devolution of income tax is particularly important to me. I have long believed that it is crucial if devolution is to move forward. For any Welsh Government to be accountable to the people, they have to be fiscally and financially accountable. The form of that accountability has to be one that the voting public recognise, and income tax is that form. If income tax is devolved, there will be a debate at every election about the appropriate level of income tax. People will vote looking at both sides of the ledger—what the Government intend to spend and what they intend to raise. Until now, all we have had is a spending plan. When I was a spokesman for my party on financial issues in the Assembly, I would not refer to the annual budget as a budget, which caused a bit of controversy; I would refer to it only as a spending plan. We have to have both sides, and that is where we are moving to with the devolution of income tax.
I am hugely proud to support this very good Bill. Of course, it is not the end of the story—who knows what will be down the road in the next Parliament and thereafter? But it is a good Bill that takes us to a much more stable place and gives the Welsh Government much more accountability. The Bill not only delivers a clear position within a unified United Kingdom but gives the Welsh Government a degree of influence and power to deliver the sort of devolution that we, the people who live in Wales, want.
Lords amendment 9 agreed to, with Commons financial privilege waived.
Lords amendment 44 agreed to.