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Government of Wales Bill

That is not correct at all. The Order in Council procedure will add extra matters to fields in which devolution already exists, so the devolutionary powers will be extended. The purpose of the Order in Council procedure is clear: to devolve quasi-primary legislative powers to the Assembly without the need for a referendum. That was recognised by Lord Richard when he gave evidence to the Welsh Affairs Committee. He said:"““Let’s be frank about it, it is a device to avoid having to come to Westminster and ask for primary powers to be formally devolved. It is quite an interesting device . . . Westminster can say they have not devolved primary legislative powers, but depending on the way in which the Order in Council procedure is used, it could in effect be a concealed grant of almost a direct legislative competence down to Cardiff.””" What the proposals amount to is a kind of devolutionary creep. They are a stealthy means of extending more and more powers to the Assembly—considerably beyond what was envisaged in 1997 and what the Welsh people voted for in that year— through a tortuous and opaque route of Orders in Council. Worryingly enough, the Orders in Council might be made with the minimum of debate in Parliament. We might be talking about one and a half hours of discussion in Standing Committee.