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Welsh Affairs

I shall certainly look into that for my hon. Friend and be in touch with him. Wales is small in geographical terms, but big in impact, and the phrase ““a small, clever country”” is applicable and should be said many times here and in Wales. It is also important that our economy has benefited and our people's lives are improved because we are part of the UK. The benefits of the devolved Assembly in Wales, including making Ministers more accessible to the people and providing greater accountability, must be set alongside the benefits that we receive from membership of the UK, such as the fact that 46,000 people have benefited from the new deal in Wales. We can learn from each other. For example, the UK Government, and England in particular, benefit from what we do in Wales, including the establishment of the first children's commissioner, the legislation for which I remember putting through the House some years ago, and probably the best and most sophisticated free bus travel for the over-60s in the UK, which has now been adopted in other parts of our country. We, too, benefit, for example from the work on hospital waiting lists, which we discussed yesterday in Welsh questions; ideas that flow from initiatives in England. In addition, we play our part in the British-Irish Council and can learn from Scotland, the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. That brings me to devolution itself and the role of Members of Parliament in terms of a post-devolution Wales that is nevertheless still very much part of the UK. I do not believe for one second that we should reduce the number of Welsh Members of Parliament. It is crazy to suggest that we should have fewer MPs and therefore less influence in this place. Until there are considerable changes in the constitutional set-up in the UK, the number of MPs should remain the same. Nor do I believe for one second that we should be inferior Members of Parliament to anybody else. We should play our part in the deliberations of this House, of which we should be fully paid-up Members. We should represent all our constituencies and constituents in this place and in every aspect of the work of the House of Commons.