Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:46 pm on 17 January 2017.
I’m talking about today, and I do feel that Wales’s case has not been made well in Westminster. I think that we would have come up with a better solution, a better Bill, if it had been done so and I commend what Eluned and her colleagues have done in the House of Lords to try to improve the situation, but you couldn’t really do the whole thing without having the Secretary of State for Wales there behind you.
Again, if you just look at the list of things that we can’t do—. No to air passenger duty powers. Why Northern Ireland? Why Scotland? What’s wrong with Wales? No to anti-social behaviour powers. No to alcohol-licencing powers. No to youth justice powers. Fifteen years ago, I was on a select committee in Westminster that recommended that youth justice powers should be devolved. I cannot conceive why youth justice powers cannot be devolved. No to industrial relations in devolved public services. No to non-for-profit bid for rail franchise powers. We could go on.
It is a very frightening thought that, in the draft Wales Bill, 21 of the 22 Acts passed by the Welsh Assembly would be ruled outside the competence of the Assembly or requiring a Minister of the Crown’s consent. And, even after the negotiations that have taken place, still 10 out of the 22 would be outside of our ability to legislate. This is for a Wales Bill that is meant to simplify the devolution model and enable this Assembly to be a fully-fledged legislature.
I believe that the passage of devolution has been a bit move forward and a bit move backwards. I’m voting for this LCM today because I think, overall, it is a bit of a move forward, but I wish that we could be here with a much better LCM, with a much more fully-fledged Bill ahead of us that would really satisfy our desires.