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Government of Wales Bill

moved Amendment No. 44:"Page 35, line 22, after ““anything”” insert ““within their powers””" The noble Lord said: I thank the Minister for his kind welcome earlier today. I wish to turn for a few moments to the Ram doctrine. As I understand it, the doctrine is set out in a memorandum, dated 2 November 1945, from the then First Parliamentary Counsel, Granville Ram. It states that a Minister of the Crown may exercise any powers that the Crown has power to exercise, except in so far as the Minister is precluded by statute from so doing, either expressly or by necessary implication. But I do not think Ministers can pray that doctrine in aid when they argue against these small amendments. Amendment No. 44 would insert into Clause 60 the words ““within their powers””, so subsection (1) would read:"““The Welsh Ministers may do anything within their powers which they consider appropriate””." Under the Royal prerogative, discretionary ministerial powers are held to exist except where they are curtailed or curbed by statute. As they stand at present, however, Clauses 60 and 70 stand to create worryingly wide-ranging and open-ended powers for Ministers. We should think once, twice or perhaps even a thousand times before giving anyone in any circumstances the power to quote Clause 60 to do anything. I was interested to hear my noble friend talking abut the number of Ministers. I recall the time when I was privileged to work with him in the Wales Office; he seemed to perform the duties of at least 10 or 12 Ministers. Therefore, he is somebody one would trust always to exercise those powers very carefully indeed. But I do not think he ever sought the sort of wide discretion in Wales currently afforded by Clause 60. I hope the Minister will think carefully about what are reasonably minor amendments but which will set in context how Ministers can exercise their powers. Just as citizens are free to do anything that is not illegal, so Ministers are generally empowered to do anything which does not conflict with statute. The same is held to be true of Ministers in the Welsh Assembly, which is why it is not only right but essential to qualify the powers created in these two clauses. The later amendment, Amendment No. 48, would insert, in page 38, the word ““reasonable””. Therefore, under the heading ““Financial assistance”” in Clause 70, subsection (1) would read:"““The Welsh Ministers may give financial assistance . . . to any person engaged in any activity which the Welsh Ministers consider will secure, or help to secure, the attainment of any [reasonable] objective which they aim to attain in the exercise of any of their functions””." That would be a good reassurance. In an ideal world or one based upon that hoary doctrine of subsidiarity, power would invariably be passed upwards rather than delegated downwards. But we do not live in an ideal world and that is simply not a practicable system. The fact is that the Welsh Assembly and the Assembly Government or Senedd are all created under an Act of Parliament. It falls to us as parliamentarians to establish precisely what their role and functions are to be and where their powers begin and end. Of course these clauses are not a recipe for despotism, although in a different context some might put that construction on their terminology. However, unamended and unqualified, they may well be a recipe for chaos and confrontation. They are ambiguous and seemingly open-ended, and they could so easily be improved if Ministers were minded to accept these small but reassuring amendments. The amendments are in no sense wrecking. It could even be argued that they do no more than make explicit what is already very much the moving spirit behind the clauses. I beg to move.