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Government of Wales Bill

I have reservations about the Bill, which I have made clear on a number of occasions. Not the least of them is that the animal created by the Assembly, the Richard commission, made proposals that to me were better and went a long way towards allaying some of my fears. My original fear was that we would require a referendum now. I do not agree with everything that my right hon. Friend the Member for Swansea, West (Mr. Williams) said, but many of my fears were addressed by him. The Government would do well to take account of some of the concerns about the process. If I am told that this is not a substantial shift and does not require a referendum because the control of the process is still vested in Parliament, some reassurance will be needed that that is really what is being said and that no sleight of hand is taking place. Essentially, that is the argument made by a number of Members. The process of pre-legislative scrutiny is clearly a good one, and my hon. Friend the Member for Aberavon (Dr. Francis) talked about different ways in which things could be done to make some proposals reality. It is disappointing that there has not been greater consultation with the Welsh people about the Bill and that there was not a draft Bill. These are serious comments. Constitutional affairs is not top of the queue in Merthyr. People do not talk about it on the bus very often. I do not have people coming up to me and saying, ““What about this Government of Wales Bill, Dai?”” What they do say is, ““How can Mike German come third in an election in Caerphilly and then, a few weeks later, end up as a deputy, running the whole outfit?”” I have to say that the reason for that is the stupid and twisted electoral process that we have in order to populate the assembly. It is not rocket science, but it is some form of science to which I may return later.