Submission of Kevin Brennan MP to the Richard Commission
- Friday 25 July 2003.
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| 1. The Powers of the AssemblyI |
| In my view this is a question which should be addressed
primarily in a pragmatic way. The current settlement has
led to an increase of the number of Wales only Acts being
passed through the UK parliament. It seems to me that
this is encouraging and the question of primary legislative
powers should really be raised when it is clear there
is a major lag jam in proposed legislation for Wales in
Westminster. I do not detect that we have yet reached
that point, although I personally believe that at some
time in the future it may be that there is a genuine need
to deal with the back log of measures which cannot be
implemented through the UK parilament because of time
constraints. |
| It is dificult to see how full primary haw making powers
over the current devolved areas could be extended without
a referendum, not least because it would be difficult
for any government to get such a measure through parliament
without a specific mandate |
| I do not believe there is any call far tax varying powers
along the Scottish or any other model for the National
Assembly. It has always been my view that the tax varying
powers extended to Scottish Parliament are essentially
meaningless since the idea that the Scottish Parliament
could reduce income tax and still receive the same level
of revenue from the centre is absurd. GDP in Wales remains
well below the UK average so the idea of increasing the
rate of tax on the people of Wales would be extremely
regressive for the foreseeable future. |
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2. Structure and Working arrangements
of the National Assembly
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The original idea of the National Assembly
as a single body combining the legislative and executive
function always seemed to me to be problematic.
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| Inevitably the Assembly has developed its own ways of
overcoming this inherent contradiction. It is still my
view that the blurring of the lines between the Assembly
as a corporate body and the executive or Welsh Assembly
Government was one of the major problems in public perception
of its first term. |
| The clearer separation that now exists between the executive
arm and the parliamentary arm is very welcome and it is
to the credit of the executive that it has been accommodating
in allowing this to develop. Should the Assembly acquire
greater law making powers it would be convenient to clarify
these relationships. |
| 3. The relationship between th Assembly in Cardiff
and the UK Parliament including the role of the Secretary
of State for Wales |
| Under the current arrangement the role of the Secretary
of State for Wales is vital. It was most welcome that
it was retained in the most recent reshuffle albeit
in a shared post. |
| With law making shared between Cardiff and Westminster,
the role of the Secretary of State as a conduit between
the National Assembly and the UK government is absolutely
vital. Tensions within the current arrangements sometimes
arise when an agreement between the UK government and
the Welsh Assembly Government regarding the shape of a
place of legislation encounters opposition from Members
of Parliament in Westminster. However this is not an unusual
tension and is not exclusive to legislation concerning
Wales. |
| In my view the most important thing is to develop ways
of ensuring that legislation is well scrutinised in advance
of being published in the final form or in bill form,
to minimise the tensions that can arise from the current
arrangement. |
| 4. Relations between the Assembly and Whitehall |
| In the current context it is relatively straightforward
to maintain communications between officials in Whitehall
and the Assembly within a unified civil service. However
the tensions begin to emerge when considering the problems
of different parties being in charge in different parts
of the country. This has already been experienced in the
coalitions in Scotland and in Wales, but would be even
more obvious should the government in the UK be run by
a different party from the government in Cardiff. There
is therefore a need for clear protocols if the unified
UK's civil service is to continue to operate in this way.
The presents new challenges which need to be considered
before the situation arises. This is an area which my
own Parliamentary Select Committee the Public Administration
Select Committee are beginning to look at, and may need
to be considered in a Civil Service Bill. |
| 5. The Electoral, System |
| I was one of the strong proponents of using the additional
member system for the National Assembly elections prior
to 1997. I believe that in broad terms the system has
worked well to produce an Assembly which creates the right
balance between proportionally and the need to form a
government. |
| In one sense the system has worked as intended. Had
there not been a proportional system in place in 1999
Labour would have gained two thirds of the seats and well
under forty per cent of the vote. I have no doubt in my
mind that this would have been regarded as an illegitimate
result by the voters of Wales, and would have done little
good to the political culture of Wales or the Labour Party
in Wales. Indeed that this sort of Assembly might well
have been rejected in the first place In the referendum. |
| The weaknesses however with the form of additional members
system adopted by the Assembly are as follows. |
| Because the Labour Party does overwhelmingly well b
the constituency section it has very lithe stake in the
regional section of the list. Indeed in 2003 A lost its
only regional member ironically through doing well in
the conaituency section b Mid and West Wales. |
| There 1s some confusion and i!1 fleeting regarding the
role of the regional member and in particular the ability
to stand in both sections of the ballot In my view it
would have been far better to simply have a constituency
section and reflect the constituency vote across into
a national or sub-regional list I have changed my mind
in that I believe that it would be better if that list
were open. |
| In practice It would be unlikely that the voter's would
often alter the order presented to them by the political
parties, but it would give them the option of rejecting
an unpopular candidate and allow them the democratic opportunity
to prevent parties from iloisting an unwelcome individual
on them. |
| I would therefore strongly recommend that the current
system be retained, but that the second vote either be
abolished, or a rule introduced to prevent individuals
standing in both the constituency and regional systems
of the ballot and that the list be "open". |
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