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Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

I shall respond very readily but shall perhaps not take as long as the quarter of an hour that the noble Lord suggests I take. My opposition to Welsh devolution between 1974 and 1979 was on the same basis as my opposition to change now—that is, that the onus is on those who wish to bring about change to make the case for such change. It would probably detain this Committee unduly if I were to go on at length about the reasons why I and the so-called gang of six took the view that we did. However, as a former elapsed political scientist, I took the view that anyone who wished to have a quasi-federal system in a unitary state would need to think through very carefully questions such as what the natural stopping point would be. I think that the slippery slope—