I do think that if, in due course, there were to be an attempt on the part of the UK Government to launch a power grab that that would provoke a constitutional crisis of a very serious kind, and in those circumstances even Members of UKIP, who believe in respecting the results of referenda, would be on the side of those who want to preserve the powers of this Assembly. I don't believe, therefore, that any United Kingdom Government would be likely to wander into that territory, even inadvertently. 

I must say, I think it's rather bizarre that Plaid Cymru have taken the hyperbolic attitude, as the finance Secretary described it, to this, considering these are all powers at the moment over which we have no control whatsoever because they're vested in Brussels, in the hands of European Union Commissioners who we can't even name, let alone elect or dismiss, an in which institution, through the Council of Ministers, the United Kingdom has only 8.5 per cent of the votes. The European Parliament, which has very limited powers to effect legislation in the EU—in the European Parliament, Wales has only four MEPs out of 750-odd. So, there is a massive enhancement of democracy and prospect here, even if temporarily some of these areas of policy will remain in the hands of the United Kingdom Government rather than being devolved to the Assembly here in Wales. 

There are three aspects of this agreement that I think are worth while pinpointing on this point, in particular the sunset clauses that are referred to in paragraph 7 of the inter-governmental agreement, which really establish that these powers are going to be returned to the Assembly in full measure in a relatively short time. Up to seven years is not a tremendously long time in the life of a legislature, even one as young as the National Assembly for Wales. We all accept that to have a working internal market in the United Kingdom there will have to be common frameworks and there will be a process of negotiation that will be ongoing, in which, although we don't ultimately have the power to legislate, the voice of the Welsh Government and the Welsh people will be heard in its negotiations with the United Kingdom Government.

The second point I'd like to draw attention to is in paragraph 8 of the inter-governmental agreement, the last sentence of which says that

'the powers will not be used to enact new policy in devolved areas', by the United Kingdom Government, but that

'the primary purpose of using such powers will be administrative efficiency.'

So, what we're talking about here is just a working arrangement, the very opposite, actually, of the power grab that is said to be taking place. 

The last point I'd like to make on this is on paragraph 9. It says that the National Assembly for Wales of course can amend directly applicable EU legislation in all the areas that are not covered by that part of the agreement that gives the power of legislation to the United Kingdom Government. So, we will be getting powers back, even in this period of seven years when we don't have complete control over these areas. So, this is a great advance in democracy in Wales.

I do hope, though, when we do have complete freedom, ultimately, that the existence of common frameworks will not be too sclerotic and that we will have the capacity to diverge, because I see one of the great advantages of returning powers from Brussels to Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast, as well as to Westminster, is that we can have a certain amount of legislative competition between the various parts of the United Kingdom. There are different ways in which we can work together, and we don't all have to do things in the same way and move together at the same speed. By a process of internal competition, we will discover which is the better process and which is the better form of legislation, and everybody in the United Kingdom, not least the people of Wales, will benefit from that process. So, I congratulate the finance Secretary on his achievement, and I think it bodes well for the future.