6. Statement by the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution: Interim Report of the Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:30 pm on 31 January 2023.

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Photo of Mick Antoniw Mick Antoniw Labour 4:30, 31 January 2023

As far as the issue of—. I mean, I understand the position you have with independence. For me, the main issue has always actually been the issue of subsidiarity. All countries and economies have a certain degree of interdependency; that was one of the functions of the European Union. And, in many ways, when you start taking the terminology out of terms, in actual fact, there is actually quite a lot of common ground. I think, probably across all political parties, we want to see decision making as close to people as possible. Darren Millar made a very valid point in that devolution isn't just about the creation of parliaments; it is about the empowerment of people and communities, and that means we have to look equally so at how devolution takes place within our own communities and within our own Government. What the role of parliaments is—I think there is a very serious question there for Westminster, but I think equally so for Holyrood and for this place as well. I think one of the advantages of the independent commission is that I think it will begin to address this; it will engage over those. And each individual political party and people individually will have to consider what conclusions and what views the report comes with in order to formulate, ultimately, their own views as to the way they see the way forward, not just about aspiration, but in terms of practically how you achieve change and what that change should be.

You raised very properly the issue of finance and the issues of viability, and I'm very aware of the work that was done by the Wales Governance Centre as well. There are, of course, important views to be taken into account in terms of, within the UK, the role of tax, the role of welfare, but the issues around the redistribution of wealth. Barnett, after all, is a redistributive. It may be a very inadequate, outdated and ineffective way of redistribution, but it does have that particular role; that is one of the common features in terms of one of the functions of the UK.

Equally so, in terms of my own opinions on this, well, I'm not really here to give my own personal opinions. You're well aware of the work that I was involved in with regard to radical federalism and so on, as to what the future and the options might be. But, I think, what I am here to do is to really talk about the importance of the commission and how we have to take that work seriously and how we have to engage with it, and I think how we have to assess the work it does, listen to what its conclusions are, to engage with it, and then give very serious consideration to the final outcome.

Can I just say, in terms of the—? You'll be aware, of course, about what the Welsh Government's position has been around the 'Reforming the Union' documents. The two versions that have been published actually set out the sort of evidence that the First Minister gave to the commission, and we'll wait to see what they make of that.

With regard to the Gordon Brown report, can I say what I thought were the two most important things within that? Firstly, that there were no doors closed in terms of change. He said that there's absolutely no reason why Wales shouldn't have exactly the same powers as Scotland. He also says that subsidiarity means that decision making should be taken as close to people as possible. And he also outlines within that, and recognises, I think, the democratic precipice that we've been approaching as more and more people lose confidence in the electoral system. But there was also, within that, a very important deference to the fact that we have the independent commission, that it wouldn't be appropriate for them, within the Gordon Brown report, to list all the different things that he thought they should decide for Wales, but rather the fact that there should be constructive engagement with the Senedd and with the Welsh Government once the independent commission has completed its work. I think that is exactly the appropriate thing to have done. It would have been totally wrong to have basically said, 'Whatever the independent commission does is irrelevant because these are the things that are good for you.' I think I've said on numerous occasions that it should not be the case that the future of Wales and Wales's role within the UK or wherever would be decided by a commission elsewhere and outwith of Wales. 

With regard to the issue of a right to a referendum, I support very much the view that's been given by the First Minister over the years: any party that is elected that says within its manifesto that it intends to call a referendum should have the right to have that referendum. Diolch.