| 2. ANALYSIS |
| Contents |
| The Referendum, 1997. |
| The objectives of the Referendum were translated
into proposals derived primarily from the Labour Party's
General Election Manifesto. |
| The proposals were a compromise within the
Welsh Labour Party, between those who wanted devolution,
and significant shades of opinion against it. Therefore
the proposals for the Referendum were only just adequate
to achieve a majority. |
|
The Referendum was only won because
those in the Labour Party who were genuine reformers
combined with the Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru
to form a united front for a "Yes" vote. Support
from the Government at Westminster was crucial, as was
the Cook-Maclennan agreement in securing a "Yes"
vote, albeit only for Executive Devolution.
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| The Government of Wales Bill. |
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The Bill, as originally drafted, was
a mirror image of the Referendum proposals, and followed
very closely structures and policies contained in the
Referendum documents.
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The Bill was timid, when viewed by
a Liberal Democrat MP like me, as I had campaigned for
years for a Welsh Parliament with Primary Legislative
powers. Indeed, it did not seem to meet the aspirations
of the Welsh people, and was, not helped by the fact
that it was drafted by Executive civil servants in the
Welsh Office.
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In Committee, therefore, we did our
best to amend the Bill. We recognised that the Secretary
of State, Ron Davies, had gone as far as he could within
the constraints of the various views within his Party.
In the final analysis, we wanted to see the Bill succeed,
but we put down markers in amendments which would improve
the Bill, and ultimately, the Legislature.
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| Briefly, the additional functions we
wanted were as follows, and contained in our amendments:- |
| (Our policy was for a Federal UK, with the
old Welsh Office powers being devolved to a Welsh Parliament.
Foreign Affairs, Defence, Treasury and Home Office affairs
would still be dealt with by Westminster. Our amendments
reflected this for Wales, as follows) |
• Primary Legislative powers
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• Tax varying powers
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• Agriculture
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• Transport
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• Broadcasting
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• A cabinet system of Government
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• Election by single transferable vote or open
regional lists in elections
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• An 80 or 70 Member Assembly
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• Direct communications with the European Union
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• Independent Committee Clerks and Officers
of the Assembly.
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| There were many other amendments, but the
above gives some idea of the type of amendments tabled.
In all cases, except that of a cabinet system of Government,
our amendments were not accepted. I believe that had they
been, the Assembly would by now have been better accepted
by people in Wales. It would have proved to be far more
effective and indeed more popular. |
| The Government of Wales Act. |
|
Subsequently, the Government of Wales
Act had to be put into practice by the new Assembly
Members, the Cabinet, the Ministers and the civil servants.
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The frustrations of only being able
to execute secondary legislation are well known. Certainly
in agriculture, and with DEFRA in particular, many frustrating
problems have surfaced. Even with Health and Education,
inadequate powers for the Assembly have denied innovative
policies. "Free care for the elderly," and
the abolition of "top up" fees for students
are only two examples of an inability to legislate within
Wales for the greater good. This Act has kept the Law
Officers of the Assembly busy!
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The Government of Wales Act should
have provided Wales with a legislative Parliament. It
should have replicated the Scottish model. The time
(1998) was, regrettably, not right. However, now we
have the opportunity, with the Richard Commission Report,
to put these matters into a logical model for the better
government of Wales.
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| The following sections, in my view, outline
the best way ahead. |
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