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Welsh Affairs

This has been a typically stimulating, diverse and wide-ranging St. David's day debate. We have heard about matters as diverse as the Llanelli flooding forum and the fascinating-sounding Wikideddfu website, which I assure the House I shall log on to the instant this debate is over. The debate was predictably dominated by devolution and the delivery of public services. Those issues were encapsulated in the Secretary of State's remark that the system for conferring devolution upon the Welsh Assembly is complicated, but the importance is not in the process but in the services delivered by it. Everyone in the House would echo that—some, perhaps, more loudly than others. It was a pleasure to see the right hon. Member for Neath (Mr. Hain) in the Chamber again, and I add my welcome to him. He will perhaps be surprised to hear that I cannot adopt my usual abrasive style when responding to his remarks, because I agreed with a great many of them. He rightly said that it is necessary that Wales should grow the private sector, mentioning that he wished it to account for 55 per cent. of Welsh GDP. The Welsh economy's reliance on the public sector over the years has been marked. It is therefore strange that the Welsh Assembly Government, in fulfilling their obligations on the Welsh economy, decided to abolish the Welsh Development Agency, which was a paragon in attracting inward investment to Wales, and absorb it into the mechanics of the Welsh Assembly Government. The right hon. Gentleman was also right to say that Wales cannot expect to be a low-wage economy, because we simply cannot compete with the far east on labour costs—the right hon. Member for Islwyn (Mr. Touhig) echoed the fact that Wales needs high-tech, high quality jobs. To that extent, the right hon. Member for Neath was right to stress the importance of universities. Those of us on the Select Committee on Welsh Affairs who visited China last autumn saw how its universities sector is an integral part of the Chinese economy's development. We could learn much from that. He will be surprised to hear it, but he and I are ad idem on a great many matters this afternoon. The hon. Member for Brecon and Radnorshire (Mr. Williams) made an interesting speech in which he referred to the need for ““watertight”” devolution in order to withstand an imminent Conservative Government. The suggestion appeared to be that the Liberal Democrats wish powers to be stockpiled in Cardiff bay to prepare for the day when the evil Tories take over once again. He also uttered the memorable remark, which will be entered in the big boy's book of Liberal Democrat quotations, ““I am all for making the present system work, but I am also all for changing it.”” Only a Liberal Democrat could utter that remark with a straight face. The hon. Member for Brecon and Radnorshire also referred to the need to review the Barnett formula. At that stage, an interesting internal debate took place between him and his colleagues, the hon. Members for North Southwark and Bermondsey (Simon Hughes) and for Montgomeryshire (Lembit Öpik), about how that could best be achieved. We did not intrude too much on their private grief. Typically, the hon. Member for Aberavon (Dr. Francis) made an interesting contribution. As we have heard, he is Chair of the Welsh Affairs Committee. As a member of that Committee, I value his chairmanship and I pay tribute to his hard work over the past months, particularly given the extra work imposed on the Committee by the process of scrutinising legislative competence orders. That is an important function, but we are going through a learning curve. He said as much when he remarked that, like the French revolution, it was too early to tell how it was progressing—I think that is what he said. The learning curve is a steep one and we have not yet negotiated it fully. The first legislative competence order was a difficult process, and parliamentarians were heavily criticised by certain members of the Welsh Assembly Government for not nodding it through. I do not believe that it is any part of the function of parliamentarians to rubber stamp legislative competence orders, and I suspect that the Secretary of State and I are at one on that. It is necessary that LCOs receive proper scrutiny from this place, but they are only one of 13 methods so far identified of conferring competence on the Welsh Assembly. The other major weapon that is used to confer competence is the framework power contained in UK-wide bills. In that respect, I wish to draw the Secretary of State's attention to the troubling experience of the Planning Bill. It now contains Welsh framework powers, but they were not in the Bill when it was first introduced or on Second Reading. In fact, they did not appear until amendments were tabled towards the end of the Committee stage, which ran to 18 sittings. Those powers, therefore, had less than half an hour's scrutiny in Committee and I am sure that everyone would agree that that is not acceptable. I entreat the Secretary of State to consider that and see whether the process can be improved in the future. We then heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Monmouth (David T.C. Davies) who made a wide-ranging speech, covering such matters as the local authority funding formula, the health service in his constituency and policing. He spoke with some authority as not only a member of the Home Affairs Committee, but a special constable—and an assiduous special constable at that. The hon. Member for Carmarthen, West and South Pembrokeshire (Nick Ainger) referred to the concerns of his constituency and fuel poverty. He said that fuel poverty was likely to increase and suggested that there should be no surcharge on prepayment meters. He called, possibly controversially, for a top-sliced levy on the excess profits of energy companies. No doubt the Secretary of State will consider that and refer the matter to his Cabinet colleagues. My hon. Friend the Member for The Wrekin (Mark Pritchard) also made a wide-ranging speech and was assiduous in making contributions to the debate throughout the afternoon. He referred to his childhood in Wales and to his experience as a Marches MP. He also mentioned the importance of tourism as an integral part of the Welsh economy. Indeed, only this week, the Wales Tourism Alliance held a reception in the House. British tourism week is also fast approaching. It is perhaps unfortunate that the Welsh Assembly Government decided in their wisdom to absorb the Wales tourist board into the apparatus of government, so that we now have VisitWales. We also have VisitBritain, which is operated by the same people who operate EnjoyEngland. The Wales Tourism Alliance suggested that there was a conflict of interest between VisitWales and VisitBritain, and perhaps that matter could be revisited. [Laughter.]