The BBC reports that a document produced by the Assembly Commission’s chief legal advisor, Keith Bush has backed the Secretary of State for Wales’ contention that an autumn referendum date on giving law-making powers to the Assembly would be very difficult to achieve.
In the document Mr. Bush outlines the difficulties for completing the process in time for the referendum this year. He says that the summer recess of parliament, as well as the time needed to agree wording of the referendum, are key obstacles for an autumn referendum.
He also sounds a note of caution over speeding up the process. He writes: “Inadequate consultation would be a potential ground of legal challenge to the Order. Consultation which did not meet the requirements of the Electoral Commission would be an area of particular vulnerability.”
The document undermines Labour and Plaid Cymru efforts to embarrass the coalition government into holding the referendum before due process has been followed. The implication is that even though the new Secretary of State for Wales made the referendum her number one priority, previous stages had happened too late to make an autumn timetable possible.
In particular, the lateness of the Assembly’s vote on the issue and the significant delay posed by the All-Wales Convention left no time at all for the Secretary of State, no matter which party he or she represents, to get everything done before Parliament adjourns for the summer.
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