This morning’s Western Mail provides further evidence that Peter Hain’s reluctance to agree to a referendum has more to do with protecting the power and privileges of MPs than with any concern about whether it can be won or not.
Talking about the Welsh Language Legislative Competence Order the Secretary of State for Wales asserts that the emasculation of this instrument, that occurred as a result of scrutiny by the Welsh Affairs Select Committee and the actions of Whitehall, actually improved it. Furthermore he talks about it as if it were actually an Act of Parliament that changes things when in fact it was an enabling measure.
So, when Hain says that the LCO imposed duties on the business community, the charitable sector, the voluntary sector and even the Girl Guides and British Legion he is actually being misleading. It did nothing of the sort. There was potential for legislation to be drawn up in that way but nobody had given any indication that it would have been.
What should have happened was that, as is proper in a devolved legislature, it would have been up to the Welsh Assembly to decide the scope of any law-making measure. However, Hain and his MPs did not trust us to do that so they restricted our room for manoeuvre. That is not a success for devolution or the LCO process, it is a retreat from the principles of proper devolution.
That is why the vote on moving to part four of the Government of Wales Act 2006 cannot come soon enough. Our problem is that we will not just be fighting those opposed to devolution to secure a ‘yes’ vote but those like Hain too, who pretend to be our friends but who are working to undermine the process in other ways.
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