Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:10 pm on 10 October 2018.
I haven't got a huge amount to add to that which we just heard from the Llywydd. I just think it's important to point out that we have these powers and we should use them. While the more difficult questions, perhaps, have been delayed to a second Bill, there is a serious purpose in this Bill as well, and I mean particularly the change of name to this Parliament. It's not just a vanity project. The purpose behind this is to help the people of Wales understand what this place is, which is a primary legislature, a proper Parliament, and some distance away from the Assembly that was set up in 1999. We all feel the frustration, I'm sure, regardless of our parties, when we knock doors, that people still don't understand the difference between Welsh Government and the Welsh Assembly, or even what the Welsh Assembly is responsible for. If this is an opportunity to help—just one more opportunity to help people in Wales understand that—then of course we should take it.
The Bill will be informed by public consultation. The Llywydd has referred to some of the responses there. But, of course, the views of Members themselves, who are themselves informed by their own Stage 1 consultation, will also matter. If amendments come forward, I'm sure they will be done on the basis of evidence as well as personal points of view. And if we do get permission for a draft Bill to proceed today, if I understand correctly, Stages 2 and 3 may be dealt with by a committee of the whole house rather than by the committees, as we have in the past.
Personally, and perhaps I should declare an interest at this point, because I am a Commissioner, what I'm looking for in this Bill is a quality legal instrument that is clear and that fulfils its stated objectives. And that means no framework Bill, no diverting of responsibility to secondary legislation unless it's absolutely necessary, because of all the scrutiny implications that go with that, a very transparent and analytical approach to the difference between the use of powers and duties, and, of course, no Henry VIII powers for the Government on the face of the Bill.
This is an Assembly Bill. It's a reminder that we are the legislature—we are the Assembly—and we act on behalf of the people of Wales. It's not Governments that make law. And while it may not happen, I think we must be vigilant for any amendments that may even inadvertently undermine the fact that it's us who make the law here. While Governments may introduce them occasionally, and more frequently, it's not for Government to undermine the purpose of this law—as I say, even inadvertently—by introducing amendments that give them too many powers as opposed to us.