I was struck by one comment on the All Wales Convention report that was published this week. Somebody described it as the Richard Commission for slow-thinkers.
And yes, we have been here before. An important report highlighting the severe shortcomings of the political compromises we are having to work with in lieu of a devolution settlement.
The present arrangements have institutionalised bad legislative practise, they have hamstrung the government from delivering on all of its programme, despite having electoral approval for those measures, and they have caused us to waste time and money examining our own navel when we should be getting on with governing.
It will not be as easy though as calling a referendum and winning it. There is still a hard slog ahead to convince people of the case for a ‘yes’ vote. Many still believe that we are asking for independence or a status beyond our abilities, despite the fact that the Assembly has in fact been exercising law-making powers since 2007.
It is not a chasm we are seeking to fill, it is a small step from piece-meal powers to having full control of our own agenda within the constraints of the 2006 Government of Wales Act. A piece of legislation that already constrains us.
How far we have to travel was evidenced by the phone-in on Swansea Sound this morning. This radio station covers an area that decisively voted ‘yes’ in 1997. And yet, although I only caught part of the show, it seems that experienced political hands and those with no political experience at all, still do not understand the case we are making.
One asserted that extra powers would come with a cost to the public purse, even though the All-Wales Convention proved beyond doubt that this would not be the case. It is for this reason that we need a ‘yes’ campaign up-and-running as soon as possible.
As a Tory MP said on Sharp End on Thursday, the Convention consisted of one set of pro-devolutionists talking to another set of pro-devolutionists. That may be a simplification but it is still essentially true.
My contention has always been that the Convention was at best a distraction, at worst an exercise in displacement politics. We should have spent the last two years talking to the Welsh people about the case for moving to Part Four of the Government of Wales Act. Instead we have spent that time talking to ourselves.
Now is the time to get out there and start putting that omission right. If we do not do so soon then it will be too late and we will be stuck with the LCO process for years to come and yet more public money will be wasted on the time and bureaucracy that involves and the constraints it places on public accountability for government policies.
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