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Government of Wales Bill

I am grateful to the Minister for his reply, which is unprecedented in that we have learnt that the referendum question and the accompanying statement will be put into an unamendable order. True, the order will have been approved by the Assembly; true, it will have been approved by both Houses of Parliament. Let us not exaggerate the scope for debate in that approval process, however. It is a short debate to approve the order, both in this House and the other place. It will certainly be, as the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee pointed out, unprecedented for the question and statement to be in secondary legislation. The Government are breaking new constitutional, or unconstitutional, ground by the process that they anticipate in this case. Mercifully, it will not occur until a substantial time—possibly a decade—has elapsed. I am sure that, a decade hence, Parliament may well take a different view from that put to us by the Government today. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Schedule 6 agreed to.