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Government of Wales Bill

As a former chairman of the National Rivers Authority I fully understand the need for such a reserved power. I would be a little more cautious than the Minister in saying that a situation giving rise to a serious problem could never arise. I can think of all sorts of circumstances that might arise. My only other point is that there may be some impression that when we talk about the Secretary of State in this case we are talking about the Secretary of State for Wales. Of course we are not. The Secretary of State in the Bill can be any Secretary of State, and it seems to me most likely in this case that it would be the Secretary of State for the Environment. I make that point only to emphasise the importance, to which the Minister referred, of full and adequate consultation in an effort to find an agreed solution, because, as the noble Lord, Lord Livsey, said, these are very sensitive issues. One can envisage circumstances in which a Secretary of State for the Environment, faced with a water crisis in the eastern part of the country, because water comes via the Severn system into the Trent and is transferred even into East Anglia, might feel that the situation was so urgent that he was tempted to be insensitive to feelings in Wales. So although I entirely endorse the need for such a clause, I do think that emphasis must be placed on the need to find an agreed solution, if possible.