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Legislative Programme and Budget Statement (Wales)

No, I will make some progress. I repeat my congratulations to the right hon. Lady on assuming her post, and I wish her well. It is a great privilege to hold the office and to work with such professional officials in the Wales Office. I am sure that she will be treated, as no doubt she has been, with traditional Welsh courtesy on her visits to Wales. For the past 13 years, the people of Wales have had to put up with the ignominy of four Secretaries of State who were MPs from Wales—yes, MPs from Wales. What a relief that Gwydyr house has now been restored to its former Tory glory, continuing the long line of having Conservatives MPs representing English constituencies in office, something that goes back to 1987. [ Interruption. ] At least I represent a Welsh constituency with a healthy majority. The Conservatives were defeated and were in a desperate fourth place in the Neath constituency at the last general election. Some might say that the right hon. Lady is not so much a new Secretary of State for Wales as a new Secretary of State for Chesham and Amersham, despite the presence of her Conservative Welsh Back Benchers who are bristling with talent; just look at them. Never has the Welsh Grand Committee witnessed a more brilliant bunch of Tory voyeurs. Why, in contrast to Scotland, is there no Liberal Democrat Minister in the Wales Office, despite such a talented threesome? We have Cardiff Central’s young mum-to-be, Ceredigion’s scourge of Plaid Cymru and the hon. Member for Brecon and Radnorshire, who looks absolutely ecstatic at being part of the coalition with the Tories—even more so, since on BBC Wales last Tuesday, he proclaimed the VAT rise to be the best thing since sliced bread, having denounced it on BBC Wales two days previously as ““a very regressive tax that falls most heavily on the poorest in society”” that he could not possibly support. We have a new Liberal Democrat dictum: two days is a very, very long time in politics. In fact, the hon. Member for Brecon and Radnorshire has done a double volte-face because he popped up on Monday admirably, with his friend the hon. Member for Ceredigion, with an amendment condemning VAT.