---

Welsh Affairs

May I first pay tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for Neath (Mr. Hain), who was at one time my Member of Parliament? He has made, in the great tradition of this House, a fine speech, one that the people of Wales would be proud of, in the sense that he located Wales in a United Kingdom and an internationalist context. He has served Wales well as Secretary of State and has served democratic devolution well. I am sure that he will continue to do so in the future. I also wish to pay tribute to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for his speech, which was as erudite, thought-provoking and challenging as his first speech as Secretary of State at the Welsh day debate on 2 March 2000. On that occasion, he developed a crucial theme that was projected by another fine son of the Monmouthshire valleys, Aneurin Bevan, in the very first Welsh day debate on 17 October 1944. In 1944, in 2000 and in 2008, that recurring theme is summed up in the words of Aneurin Bevan in 1944 about the inter-war years in the south Wales valleys:"““Our problem was to try to get enough political leverage to secure attention for our difficulties.””—[Official Report, 17 October 1944; Vol. 43, c. 2313.]" From the perspective of the Welsh Affairs Committee, which I have the privilege of chairing, I see that challenge of political leverage very clearly: what is the best political leverage that we can achieve for Wales today? The Secretary of State argued in 2000 for a strategic partnership between Westminster and the Assembly, and he did so again today. In 2000, he was anticipating what the Prime Minister said recently about there being no Welsh-only, Scottish-only or English-only solution to our problems. The political leverage of 1944 has evolved into the strategic partnerships of today. The Secretary of State placed great emphasis in 2000 on policies that delivered for the people and suggested that"““if we fail the people, the democratic institutions that we cherish, and have only just established, will fail as well.””—[Official Report, 2 March 2000; Vol. 345, c. 601.]" That is the theme that I wish to pursue today as the Chairman of the Committee: Wales as an historic nation and as, in the words of a Welsh politician in the 1990s, ““an open region””, looking outwards and seeking partnerships in the United Kingdom, in Europe and in the world, a global Wales rather than an introspective ““fortress Wales.”” I am very hopeful that the all-Wales convention under the chairmanship of Sir Emyr Jones-Parry will have that wider vision, too. I believe that the Secretary of State has a unique opportunity and role in this context, representing Wales in the Cabinet, in Westminster and in Whitehall, and representing those institutions in Wales. In chairing the British-Irish Council and the Cabinet committee on the English regions, he has a pivotal role in bringing together and making sense of the hitherto asymmetrical and fragmented devolution across the UK. The Welsh Affairs Committee recently published its annual report. In many ways, it is a series of snapshots of the evolving devolutionary world. We continue to scrutinise the Secretary of State and the Wales Office and we look forward to him coming before us in the next month or so for that purpose. Through a series of inquiries, we scrutinise various Government Departments in respect of their policies as they affect Wales. Our major inquiry on globalisation and its impact on Wales, and our forthcoming cross-border inquiry focusing on health, education and transport will no doubt result in UK and Welsh Ministers appearing before us. This is our principal preoccupation: an examination of how Wales relates to the rest of the UK and the rest of the world. We have nevertheless, under the Government of Wales Act, taken a new and additional responsibility of engaging in pre-legislative scrutiny, scrutinising legislative competence orders in council either jointly with Assembly Committees or on our own. We have already completed reports on additional learning needs and domiciliary care. Much has been said, including today, about the process and some colleagues have rightly questioned the volume of work, the nature of the scrutiny and related issues. As Chairman of the Committee, all I would say is that we are in the very early stages of a new democratic process. We welcome the opportunity of working from time to time with our Assembly colleagues and we will regularly review the process and the volume of work within it. I welcome the comments made by the Secretary of State earlier.