---

Government of Wales Bill

moved Amendment No. 63:"Page 52, leave out lines 2 to 4." The noble Lord said: This amendment would remove Clause 64(5)(b), which specifies that an Order in Council has to be approved by ““each House of Parliament””. This removal would give the National Assembly the approval function and, in so doing, the competence to approve an Order in Council unilaterally, as well as being a democratically elected body. We believe that the Assembly should have that power. Amendment No. 65 in the group would remove subsections (7) and (8) which give the Secretary of State 60 days to lay a draft Order in Council before both Houses of Parliament. As Members of the Committee can see, Amendment No. 65 replaces ““60 days”” with ““30 days”” in order to lay a draft Order in Council before the Clerk of the Assembly, which means that that would not be between both Houses of Parliament. It then would be for the Clerk to submit the draft Order in Council to Her Majesty in Council, and not the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State should not have the role as currently drafted in the Bill, which I believe harps back to the debate that we had particularly on Amendment No. 61C. In our view, as devolutionists, there is a reluctance to let go. It was evident from a previous debate that there is a danger that there will be so many hurdles for the Assembly to cross that the devolution project could be in jeopardy in Wales. People will not accept these matters of how high will the next hurdle be before we can get some legislation. There is a huge matter that the Secretary of State of whatever party may step in and prevent certain legislation going forward, although that is the will of the democratically elected body. As a democrat I have very considerable reservations about that situation, as does my party. The Assembly itself is a democratic body and the right place for the power to reside. There is no doubt whatever about that. Amendment No. 68 is a simple proposal to adjust the period of delay from 60 days to 30 when a draft Order in Council is laid before Parliament and notice given in writing to the First Minister. I beg to move.