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Government of Wales Bill

There is a certain air of déjà vu about this debate because we rehearsed most of these arguments when we discussed Amendment No. 54. I certainly do not have a great deal to add to the response that I gave at that stage, particularly as anything that I would have sought to present at the Dispatch Box has already been delivered by my noble friend Lord Rowlands, who indicated the difference between Part 3 and Part 4. I heard what the noble Lord, Lord Crickhowell, said about where a referendum could fit in, but, unfortunately, this amendment tells us exactly where this referendum is meant to fit in. Subsection (2) of the new clause makes it quite clear that the referendum is about Part 3 and the Assembly measures. My noble friend Lord Rowlands ventured the hypothesis that it might be difficult to frame the question, but he was too kind to introduce to the debate the information that I somewhat churlishly introduced when we discussed Amendment No. 54; namely, that the Opposition Front Bench in the other place had had a shot at it. Let us give them their due. They wanted a question on Part 3; they wanted a referendum, so they had a shot at it. We all know the reputation of the shadow Attorney-General. We all admire a great deal of the work which he does and will continue to do in Opposition. He tried:"““do people wish to be governed by Order in Council moderated in its detail by the Welsh Assembly””.—[Official Report, Commons, 9/1/06; col. 119.]" That was a good, honest try, but it was absolute rubbish in terms of anybody being able to run a referendum on such a proposition. Here rests the difficulty, which is at the heart of this amendment. At its heart is a requirement for the people of Wales to reach in a referendum a judgment on this part of the Bill. We will get to Part 4 in due course, and I have no doubt that the noble Lord, Lord Crickhowell, will be as eloquent then as he has been today, but his eloquence is misplaced in the context of this amendment, which requires a referendum which none of us could possibly conceive as being a realistic proposition to put before the Welsh people. I hope that the noble Lord will recognise that the amendment needs to be withdrawn on that basis.