Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Adam Price (Plaid Cymru). It was answered on Wednesday, 26 March 2008 on behalf of the Welsh Grand Committee.

Devolution

Question: The Calman review, a joint commission between the Scottish Parliament and the Westminster Government, is about to begin investigating the case for tax-varying powers for Scotland. That will also be a subject for a commission that is due to be established by the Welsh Assembly Government. Will the Secretary of State say whether the Government are as committed to exploring the case for tax-varying powers for Wales as they are for Scotland? Will the Assembly commission have the same access to Treasury officials and information as the Scottish review?

Answer: My view is that there is not a case for tax-raising powers in Wales for two reasons. First, I do not think that everybody wants them. Secondly, the resource base in Wales is inevitably lower than that in Scotland. As the hon. Gentleman knows, in the 1997 referendum in Scotland, the second question was whether the Scottish people agreed on tax powers. My guess is that it would be very difficult to have such tax-raising powers unless that was the will of the people, confirmed in a referendum. It is possible that taxation issues will arise during the months ahead when Sir Emyr Jones Parry deals with those matters. We will have to wait and see, but, at the moment, any referendum that is held will deal with the powers of the Assembly. The second part of the hon. Gentleman’s question is really about Barnett and the commission that the Assembly is holding on that important issue. My view is that we must be careful about Barnett because we could end up worse off than we are. As he knows, there is the problem that, on average, more than £7,000 is spent per head in Wales, compared with just over £6,000 per head in England. Whether our English colleagues in some areas of the country will be prepared to accept that is quite another matter.

Secondary information