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Government of Wales Bill

The hon. Gentleman may know my views. I am not sure how many Orders in Council there were, but in 1966 there were 35 statutory instruments passed as subordinate legislation; only a tiny handful. Now, we constantly pass legislation that gives wide discretion to Secretaries of State to enact secondary legislation, which the House has grossly insufficient opportunity to scrutinise adequately. That is a constitutional reform that I would very much like to see. However, it remains the case that the House has a responsibility for primary legislation. I am sure the hon. Gentleman will recognise that what the Government are doing in the Bill is turning what is normally primary legislation into secondary legislation, so issues of even greater importance will not be properly scrutinised here, on the promise that they may get better scrutiny elsewhere, but without our having any opportunity to see the final product and pronounce on it.