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Government of Wales Bill

I support what has just been said by my noble friend Lord Thomas of Gresford and the noble Lord, Lord Hunt. The history of this appointment is not altogether happy. As has been said, Mr Roddick, who was the first Counsel General, regarded himself, and was widely regarded, as being entirely independent. Those who have discussed his appointment with Mr Roddick know that there were uncomfortable moments for him, for he did not always know where the fountainhead of his independence lay. It was by him and in his courage in the job that that independence was established. After his retirement, there was what can be described only as an unseemly mess. There was a completely independent trawl for a new Counsel General. Recruitment consultants were used in the normal Civil Service way and the Civil Service Commission carried out the interviews. I believe that the final interviews were chaired by the First Civil Service Commissioner, who is a respected Member of this House. An appointment was provisionally made, of an extremely distinguished lawyer who everyone who knows the Welsh or the legal world would have regarded as an exemplary, apolitical appointment. For reasons that have never been adequately explained, it appears that the present First Minister rejected that appointment and, as a result, there has been no Counsel General since then. It is clear from what occurred that the present First Minister, at least, wished and presumably wishes that the Counsel General should, in effect, be like the Solicitor-General for Scotland or Lord Advocate; that is, a political appointment, a member of the Government in political terms and, as happens conventionally with Scottish law officers, someone who becomes a Member of your Lordships’ House. To many of us, that is not acceptable. We can do better in Wales. Someone like the person who the Civil Service Commission wished to be appointed would be an outstanding public servant, and would ensure that the Welsh Assembly Government’s activities were lawful and that the Bill, when it becomes an Act, is fully carried out. There will be real concern, even in political circles in Wales that, if it is to be merely a political appointment, the quality of that appointment will suffer and the government of Wales will suffer as a result. This is therefore an extremely serious issue on which real clarification is required from the Front Bench.