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Government of Wales Bill

I support the amendment. I have three brief points to make. I am very surprised that the Conservatives are against this move. In our debates on the powers of this House, for example, the argument is always not to clip the authority of this House, because the less responsibility that it has the less attractive it will be for people to come here to try to influence the legislative procedure of this Parliament. If that is the case for the House of Lords, is not the argument the same for the Welsh Assembly? If we have an Assembly that is restricted in its powers and apart from Orders in Council gains hardly any new powers in this Bill, does not the same argument apply? Those who could be of such value in that Assembly will not be attracted to take part in its deliberations because its powers will be so limited. In 1979, when we had the first referendum in Wales, we lost out. The people of Wales did not want to respond at that time to that move to have an Assembly for Wales. But by 1997 people had changed their views. They had moved ahead in their thinking, and voted—albeit by a tiny majority, but a majority it was—to move ahead with the Assembly. I give credit to the Government for how they responded immediately to that request from the people of Wales. Now we have a development of thinking and support in Wales for a stronger Assembly with the powers suggested in the amendment. For those reasons, the Labour Government and the Conservative Opposition should support the amendment.