THE FUTURE GOVERNANCE OF WALES

Introduction
Party Proposals
Pros and Cons
The Assembly Web Page

Introduction

Currently Wales has a high degree of administrative devolution. The Welsh Office encompasses a variety of functions including the health service, education, transport, the environment, roads, local government, tourism, economic development, training, aspects of heritage and the Welsh language.

The Welsh Office is headed by a Secretary of State (with a seat in the Cabinet) and two Ministers of State.

The advantage of this system is that by incorporating disparate functions into one ministry you should ease cooperation across department lines. It also enables a distinctively Welsh slant to emerge in the framing of policies.

The most obvious deficit is the lack of accountability. Originally the post was seen as an advocate for Wales in the cabinet. Recently this position was reversed, under the previous Conservative administration the incumbent's job was to sell the cabinet's policies to Wales. For a generation the party of government had been of a party that had not had a majority of the Welsh seats in over 100 years. The public in Wales found this position to be untenable.

This lack of accountability become acute in recent years as the governing party became less and less popular in Wales and its Welsh representation has declined substantially.

Welsh Questions in the House of Commons frequently saw Welsh MPs unable to ask oral questions while seeing English Conservative MPs asking questions given to them by the government whips.

The Welsh Affairs Select Committee had an in-built Conservative majority, maintained by the importation of Tory MPs from English constituencies.

The Standing Order of the House of Commons guaranteeing a place for any Welsh MP on committees taking the committee stage of any bill relating exclusively to Wales had been suspended, for the sole reason of the government's inability to maintain a government majority on it. Consequently Welsh Bills had more imported English Conservative MPs sitting in on their proceedings.

The Welsh Grand Committee, on which all Welsh MPs sit, together with the Secretary of State and up to four other non-Welsh MPs, did not meet on a regular basis, the government had been reluctant to let it sit more frequently than two to three times a year, this was despite that the government controlled its agenda and the Welsh Grand Committee is powerless to take decisions or pass resolutions.

The Wales European Forum, on which MPs, Ministers, the Welsh representatives to the Committee of the Regions and Welsh MEPs all sit, had not been called more frequently than once a year. It was envisaged that this reporting back body would meet at least four times a year. The government had been reluctant to permit it to meet more frequently and without their approval it can not function.

This widening of the democratic deficit has done much to convince previously anti-devolution Welsh MPs that things have to change. The Welsh public seem to be much more behind the concept of devolution this time round. Like Welsh MPs they had felt powerless to influence the previous government's policy. The growth of Quangos and the appointment of government supporters to their boards has further disenchanted the public with the present constitutional settlement. The then governing Conservative party recognised that some aspects of the system are not acceptable to the people and offered some limited changes. The other parties have gone much further.

The 1997 general election saw the Welsh electorate vote overwhelmingly for parties committed to change and to totally wipe out the Conservative Party in Wales - leaving them with no Welsh MPs, control over no Welsh council, no Members of the European Parliament and less councillors that the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats or Plaid Cymru.

However, unlike Scotland, there was no Constitutional Convention to draw up an agreed set of proposals, this is despite both Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats - together with various voluntary and community organisations - saying that they would be prepared to sit in such a body.

For now the issue has been decided by a referendum, by the narrowest margin the Welsh people voted in favour of a directly elected assembly.

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What the Parties Were Proposing

Conservative

The Conservatives envisaged the Welsh Grand Committee meeting more frequently; taking Welsh Questions and questioning other ministers; taking the second reading debates of non controversial Welsh Bills and to permitting it to meet more frequently in Wales. Currently it could (but doesn't) meet 3 - 4 times a year, for half of that time in Wales at various locations. Under the Conservative proposals it would meet on a monthly basis and mainly in Wales - though not at a fixed location but in different towns. The Secretary of State would remain a cabinet minister and might have more power transferred to the department (some Conservative MPs have called for the Home Office powers over the Fire and Police Authorities to be transferred to the Welsh Office - though this is not yet party policy).

Labour

The Labour Party proposed to create a Welsh Assembly, with 60 members. This would take over responsibility for the budget and function of the Welsh Office and take control of most of the Welsh Quangos.

Essentially it would democratise the layer of existing administrative devolution. The Assembly would have no primary legislative or tax raising powers.

Its income would come from a block grant negotiated between it and the UK Treasury. The office of Secretary of State for Wales would remain and would be a cabinet member. The Secretary of State would have no department to run, but would speak for Welsh interests in the Cabinet.

Prior to the introduction of a bill to set up a Welsh Assembly the Labour government would consult the people of Wales through a referendum and ask if they support the setting up of an Assembly.

The referendum has now been held and approved by a narrow majority.

The Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats would create a Welsh Parliament or Senedd. Initially it would resemble Labour's executive assembly, taking on the powers and functions of the Welsh Office. But it would, within the lifetime of a parliament, take on legislative powers for most domestic areas of Welsh life. This Senedd would be elected by proportional representation, most probably by the single transferable vote system. There would be a Welsh executive comprised of ministers, one of which would be a Minister for Europe, Wales' representative in the European Union. The Senedd would have the power to vary income tax, up or down, by a set amount, but would be funded principally by a block grant. The post of Secretary of State for Wales would be abolished.

Plaid Cymru

Plaid's ultimate goal is full self-government within the European Union. This would be a two stage process. Firstly a legislative Parliament (Senedd) would be elected. This would consist of two chambers; a lower house of 100 members elected by proportional representation and having gender parity (ie ideally equal numbers of men and women); an upper house consisting of two members from each local authority (again with gender parity). This would take on all the functions of the Welsh Office, sections of the Department of Trade and Industry and other English Ministries. Initially it would be funded by a block grant, but within 5 years it would keep all revenue raised in Wales and have the power to raise or lower several taxes. An agreed sum would be paid to the UK Treasury to pay for those services reserved to the UK government and not devolved to Wales (ie defence, social security, foreign affairs etc).

After a period of time (say five to ten years) the Welsh people will be asked by referendum if they would like full self government. If the answer is yes then the Senedd will take over full responsibility for administering all services and apply for membership of the UN, and EU (although it could be argued that we will already be a member as a successor state to the United Kingdom). At the same time as the referendum on full self government the people will be asked if the would want the continuation of the monarchy or a republican form of full self government.

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The Pros and Cons

The status quo is not on offer, everyone recognises that there are problems with it, principally a lack of accountability.

Conservative
The advantage of the Conservative proposals is that they increase the level of scrutiny of the Welsh Office. Ultimate accountability remains to the House of Commons. There will be no diminution in the power or influence of Welsh MPs in the House of Commons. Wales remains in the United Kingdom. The conservatives also maintain that this is the only option that will not lead to friction between the UK Government and any Welsh executive, which they believe would lead to instability and conflict and ultimately threaten the Union.

Its disadvantage is that it does not address the democratic deficit argument. Even if all Welsh MPs vote against a proposal or call for the sacking of a Welsh Office minister then it is the will of the House of Commons as a whole that will prevail.

Labour
Labour's proposal has the advantage of bringing democratic accountability back to Welsh administration. Quangos will be subjected to effective scrutiny and a directly elected Welsh body will be able to make its own spending priorities.

The disadvantages include:

The proposed electoral system is not fully proportional and will create a class of MP who will be accountable to the party machine rather than the electorate (the top up members chosen from the lists).

The block grant system leaves the assembly at the mercy of UK central government who will be able to exercise control through the control of the purse strings. The lack of legislative powers heavily restricts what the assembly can do, it would not have been able to block the poll tax for example.

By not having legislative powers it will not have the right to send observers to the European Union's Council of Ministers.

Liberal Democrat
The Liberal Democrat proposals include both legislative and executive powers, combined with a modest degree of tax raising power. This will give Wales a wide degree of self government and observer status in the Council of Ministers.

The main disadvantage is that Wales will not have a vote in the Council of Ministers, that it will still be UK Ministers making decisions on our behalf.

Plaid Cymru
For me the main advantage of what Plaid is offering is that we will have to take responsibility for our own destiny, we will not be able to blame the UK government! The main disadvantage is that we would find that we would have to make some hard choices.