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Government of Wales Bill

I am not sure that I shall go down those byways; I am certainly not going to compete with the noble Lord, Lord Roberts, and his interpretation of the Welsh definition of the opening on that day. I thought that what was being opened was the building, and that that was what was referred to, but if the noble Lord says that the Welsh means that an institution, rather than a building, was being opened, I shall simply defer to his expertise and not go down that track. In any case, the amendment has nothing to do with the opening of the Senedd of Wales; it is about opinion polls and who can conduct them. It is a fairly minor amendment, and the noble Lord, Lord Livsey of Talgarth, moved it in fairly modest terms. But surely it is based on a misconception. He said that it was a change from the past. So it jolly well is. Of course it is, because the Bill changes a great deal. One of the Bill’s main themes is separating the executive from the legislature. That is one of its prime concepts. I ask noble Lords to think for no more than 10 seconds about whether the power to organise an opinion poll on the exercise of Welsh Ministers’ powers is an executive function or a legislative one. I do not think that noble Lords would say within 10 seconds that that is clearly an executive function. That is why it appears here as an executive function. I am not going to tackle the noble Lord, Lord Livsey of Talgarth, on the fact that the amendment would scarcely wreck the Bill; I merely suggest to him that we considered the separation of powers and concluded that this one clearly falls within the framework of the executive. That is why the Bill reads as it does.