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Government of Wales Bill

The most charitable criticism that one might make of the Bill is that it is premature. Perhaps a less charitable criticism would be that it is a devious measure designed significantly to extend the powers of the Welsh Assembly to give it a primarily law-making competence without first obtaining the consent of the people of Wales in a referendum. Furthermore, one could say that the Bill’s aim is to bolster the Labour party’s position in the Assembly. It is worth looking back briefly at the history of devolution in Wales to date. As other hon. Members have said, it must not be forgotten that devolution was voted for in the 1997 referendum by the narrowest possible margin. On a poll of just over 50 per cent. of the Welsh electorate, just over 25,000 people voted in favour of devolution. The majority throughout Wales was just over 6,000. In other words, almost 75 per cent. of the Welsh electorate was either opposed to devolution, or insufficiently persuaded of its merits to vote in favour of it.