Devolution is bigger than the Labour Party
David Cameron and Nick Bourne outside the National Assembly that Bourne campaigned against but now wants to strengthen
GIVING EVIDENCE to a House of Commons Committee in May last year, Rhodri Morgan said the current LCO process “creaked a little bit at the beginning”, but suggested it was “too early to give a verdict on how well the process works”. Eighteen months on and Sir Emyr Jones Parry and his team have given that verdict. It doesn’t make comfortable reading for Labour.
Welsh Conservatives welcome the report of the All Wales Convention and endorse its findings. We agree that a move from Part 3 of the Government of Wales Act 2006 – in which we have to ask for powers from Westminster – to Part 4 and full law-making powers offers “substantial advantage over the present arrangements”.
Of course, many of the conclusions came as no surprise. Representatives from all parties, interest groups and the third sector have been warning for some time that the LCO system is cumbersome and slow. The Law Society said it “has too many stages and takes too long”. The FSB and General Teaching Council agreed that it was “lengthy and complicated”. Community Housing Cymru felt it is “not conducive to either efficiency or transparency”. All of which has made it a difficult process for the people of Wales with which to both understand and engage. When it was first introduced, my colleague David Melding said it was “a bit like going from Cardiff to Newport via Wrexham”. It has been an arduous journey for most.
The Convention’s report found further fault with the Assembly Government’s over-reliance on Framework Bills. These have been used with increasing frequency by WAG to draw down powers to Wales, but the process is “opportunistic” according to the Convention, and lacks the kind of democratic accountability we would all wish to see. Under this method, Assembly Members have had no say in – or scrutiny of – the scope of the powers they would later receive. Clearly, Peter Hain was wrong to claim this represented a “more democratic” process. Labour’s own Counsel General Carwyn Jones, likened the process to Wales hitching a lift. Sir Emyr Jones Parry and his team have called it “piggy-backing”.
As various groups have pointed out, this has had a negative impact on our ability to improve the life chances, public services and opportunities of the people of Wales. It has denied Wales the chance to pursue detailed, broad-based and strategic policies fit to combat some of the most pressing issues of our time. Climate change, integrated transport solutions or improving public health, for example, all require holistic solutions. These cannot be achieved by “piggy-backing” opportunism or the piecemeal transfer of powers.
In truth, the LCO process was always the result of a political act – not a constitutional one. In that respect it has disappointing echoes of Labour’s behaviour in this week’s Queen’s Speech. Peter Hain’s Government of Wales Act 2006 was a sticking plaster designed to heal the wounds of the Labour Party in Westminster and Cardiff Bay. It didn’t take into account the views of Assembly Members. It didn’t build on the carefully crafted consensus of the Richard Commission. Most important of all, it didn’t consult the Welsh people. The findings of this report give us an opportunity to correct that.
In a speech in December last year, I suggested our stance on devolution was my party’s Clause 4 moment. It is heartening to note the Welsh public have felt the same way. A steady – and growing – majority of people in Wales now support devolution. Now we must move forward to provide a lasting settlement. Devolution is bigger than the Labour Party.
Sir Emyr’s report found that 72% favour devolved government in Wales, but that is very different from the question of who governs Wales. Welsh Conservatives believe there is nothing that cannot be fixed in Wales without a change in government.
So, to start with, we must deepen the ties with civic society that devolution promises – but which Labour and Plaid have denied. Charities, voluntary associations and other interested parties warn that devolution has brought better access, but less action. They doubt “whether the process was real, and whether decisions had already been taken before consultation began”. Local authorities should also be more involved. So should higher and further education institutions, alongside businesses and the trade unions. Welsh Conservatives believe that devolution and decision-making should filter through to councils and communities. A Conservative Welsh Assembly Government would put people back at the heart of politics, and strengthen civil society’s role in the governance of Wales.
Second, we must work more closely with our partners in Westminster and our neighbours in England. Many Welsh patients receive treatment in English hospitals and many schoolchildren and students travel between the two to take courses. Our trains and roads do not suddenly stop at Offa’s Dyke, as some in Plaid Cymru believe, but link Wales with England and the rest of Europe in crucial ways. We must improve co-operation and co-ordination between the Assembly and Westminster, and Cheryl Gillan and David Cameron’s plans for greater dialogue are central to this.
Third, I believe we must look to move to a referendum on the transfer to Part 4 – and the transfer of full and historic law-making powers to Wales. David Cameron has made it clear that a Conservative Secretary of State will accept a referendum request, as and when it is made. There can be no clearer sign that the next Conservative Government will be a government that will listen to and fully represent the people of Wales. It is a government that will be on our side.
The next few years will be crucial for Wales. With the reforms suggested by the All Wales Convention, and Conservative plans to strengthen the devolution settlement, I am sure that by working together we can craft a sustainable legislative platform on which to build a better Wales.
It’s time to move forward.
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Flickr
Nick – thanks for this very stimulating article. The movement of the Conservative Party on the issue of devolution is one of the seismic changes in Welsh politics over the past ten years. You have played a major role in doing that and in changing the terms of the debate.
You write that: “In a speech in December last year, I suggested our stance on devolution was my party’s Clause 4 moment. It is heartening to note the Welsh public have felt the same way. A steady – and growing – majority of people in Wales now support devolution. Now we must move forward to provide a lasting settlement.” My analysis concurs with this.
David Cameron’s “Broughton Declaration” when he pledged that the Conservatives would not block a referendum by refusing to lay the Order in the Commons, when the time is right, to trigger the plebiscite is a major step forward. Critics have suggested this position is a cop out, but I tend to agree with David Melding’s analysis yesterday that the Declaration “will be seen as decisive as Emyr Jones-Parry’s report. Between them they have set the parameters for this important national debate.”
David Melding also wrote that: “the Welsh Conservative Party is in for a bumpy ride. Its opponents will slap on the war paint and portray neutrality on law making powers as being “anti-Welsh” on devolution.” You both know that the position you have adopted is difficult and open to misinterpretation. But you can move forward based on it – and so can Wales.
No leading Conservatives were in the Yes camp in 1997. In 2010 both you and David as well as other respected figures like Jonathan Morgan and Glyn Davies will fight alongside people from other parties and none in making the case for rational change and constitutional improvement. With the Conservative Party polling around 30% of the vote in Wales now, if that carries 10% of the Welsh electorate into the Yes camp then it is possibly the most important change for the Yes side since 1997.
Yes, Nick, it is time to move forward. I hope this article convinces any remaining doubters of your total sincerity on that point. We march together.
The basic message here is very welcome but the inability to make it without a few sideswipes at Labour undermine the idea that it’s Wales and better governance that matters. As long as AMs keep making this about party politics no one will completely trust the motives of any of them. Welsh politics needs ideas and personalities, not party lines and party bickering.
Firstly, a very welcome article from Mr Bourne: I seem to recall that he was never the strongest proponent of devolution so his advocacy is doubly welcome and, hopefully, signals the start of a less divisive and coherent campaign for greater powers being devolved to Wales.
However, there is one piece that has been noticeably absent from this article, Kirsty Williams’s equally thoughtful piece and indeed much of the debate on this website and that is the clear articulation of the link between devolution and peoples’ lives.
I haven’t yet seen any politician of any colour talk in a language supporting greater devolved powers that ordinary voters will resonate with. My friends and family want a Welsh assembly that can help create the right economic conditions to create and sustain jobs, invest in infrastructure, recognise the challenges of the digital divide and build enduring prosperity. As much as the debates around better governance or potential referendum questions might appeal to hacks and politicos (and I include myself in this) until we start making this real and vital to voters across Wales, this campaign will struggle to get off the ground in any meaningful way. We still have a very long way to go.