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| Response to the Commission
on the Powers and Electoral Arrangements of the National
Assembly for Wales |
| Your work has been somewhat overtaken
by events. The English media, at least, are not
focusing on the downgrading of the respective roles of
the Secretaries of State for Scotland and for Wales as
much as that of reform of the Lord Chancellor's Office.
However, the point needs to be recognised that, whereas
there is a case to be made that Scotland no longer needs
full Cabinet representation, this is clearly not the case
for the emasculated Welsh Assembly, with its lack of primary
legislative powers and well-documented difficulty in getting
Bills through Westminster. To my mind, as a result
of this reform, the case for deeper devolution (ie of
primary law-making power in the existing areas of competence)
is now unanswerable. |
| I personally would argue for
broader devolution as well, ie expansion of the areas
of competence, on the basis that (as the Tories used to
argue when it suited them) the burden of proof should
be on those who argue against, not for, subsidiarity;
and on the empirical evidence of the huge contribution
which devolution has made to renewing civic society and
generally boosting national self-confidence. |
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