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Local and Regional Government

Perhaps I should declare an interest from the start. I have been a Member of the Welsh Assembly for the past six years, despite the fact that I campaigned and voted against it. If I had the opportunity to vote in another referendum, I would probably vote for Christmas, unlike the proverbial turkey. I went into politics because I believed that it should be about low taxes, high quality public services, low taxation wherever possible and building a sense of cohesion. The Welsh Assembly, and regional government in general, undermines those key principles. We saw a huge rise in the costs of government from the moment that the Welsh Assembly was set up. One of the first decisions taken was to build ourselves a brand new building, which originally cost £6 million and is now running at £66 million. That money is coming straight out of the block grant for the Welsh Assembly, or regional government, which could be spent on other matters. There are also Welsh embassies all over the world—or, rather, in the more exotic parts of the world—[Interruption.] I am happy to give way to anyone who wants to ask me about that. I have tried to find out the costs of the embassies. I know that they run into millions; the embassy in New York is in the Chrysler building. I am unable to give a definitive figure because, despite asking a series of written questions on it, the Minister has not been able to give me a proper cost. There has also been an expensive reorganisation of the quangos, which brings me to public services. One effect of regional government is a tendency among those running it to try to do things differently, even when there is no real reason to do so. I have been critical of this Government in Westminster and their handling of the health service. However, they are doing a far better job of running the health service than their colleagues in the Welsh Assembly are. Perhaps that is because the Government have a slightly more pragmatic approach or because of the relatively lower costs of having a larger health service in England; I do not know the full answer. The health service in England is far better than the one in Wales.