Draft Wales Bill

The accusation that the draft Wales Bill provides an "English veto" over Welsh laws is complete nonsense. The First Minister is playing a dangerous game by peddling this nationalist rhetoric. Notwithstanding the fact that the UK Government represents all four nations in our United Kingdom, Welsh Government will still be able to legislate in all the devolved areas it currently can as well as in the important new policy areas being devolved to it.

The Bill contains extensive new requirements for Whitehall to consent to Assembly bills, something which would be both inappropriate in principle, and bureaucratic in practice. They amount to nothing less than an English veto on Welsh laws. In pursuing its legislation, the Assembly would be subject to a new test of necessity which would introduce new areas of legal doubt and uncertainty. If these provisions had been in place during this administration, lawyers advise that less than one third of our Bills could have been passed without the prior approval of the UK Government. What kind of devolution would that be? The draft Bill, which reverses the two unanimous decisions of the Supreme Court in the Byelaws and Agricultural Wages Board cases, proposes a type of reserved powers model which, if implemented, would be a major step backwards for devolution in Wales. Without major improvement, the Bill is a recipe for ever more referrals to the Supreme Court and ever more inter-governmental disputes. That cannot be in the interests of the National Assembly, the Welsh Government or, indeed, the UK Government. The Bill as drafted will not provide the coherent and durable devolution settlement that the people of Wales deserve.

The draft Wales Bill as it stands is an insult to our country. It only implements a fraction of the issues already agreed by all parties years ago through the Silk Commission report. Effectively, the Bill as it stands, enshrines Wales’ status as a second class nation in the UK. Throughout this process, Plaid Cymru has sought consensus on issues that all parties have signalled agreement on previously. We’ve worked constructively and have been prepared to meet others half way in order to do so. Sadly, the UK Government is unwilling to facilitated that sort of outcome and the Labour Welsh Government have proven that they are not taken seriously at UK level.

The current settlement is unstable and unclear and the only people it benefits are the lawyers. It’s time we had a robust devolution settlement that works for the people of Wales. Today's draft Bill is part of a comprehensive package which, alongside our commitments to protect Welsh funding, will devolve major new responsibilities that will lead to a step-change in devolution in Wales. The new Wales Bill will do exactly what we said it would do: meet the appetite of Welsh people for devolution and build a stronger Wales within a strong United Kingdom.

Unfortunately, I believe the current draft would amount to a backwards step for the National Assembly and would not deliver the lasting constitutional settlement for Wales, and the UK as a whole. If the UK Government proceed as presently proposed, I would anticipate almost immediate calls for yet another Wales Bill, something that none of us wishes to see. I am therefore encouraged by the Secretary of State’s commitment to continued dialogue to achieve a lasting settlement.