I have just caught up with yesterday’s Politics Show and was horrified to hear what the new Chair of the Welsh Affairs Select Committee had to say. To be frank I thnk he believes that he has more influence and power than he really does.
This was particularly so with regards to Legislative Competence Orders and the referendum. When asked what the role of the committee is David Davies replied:
We have a scrutiny role because we look at the LCOs, the new laws, if you like, that the Welsh Assembly want to pass and we are I suppose you could say, a second chamber for them.
He went on:
Where you have only got 60 people in the Welsh Assembly, that before they pass legislation there is another body of people who can oversee that and scrutinise it in a helpful way and try and improve legislation.
Actually, this is remarkably confused. The Welsh Affairs Select Committee scrutinise orders that pass powers down to the Assembly so that they can legislate through measures. These orders are not legislation nor do David’s Committee get to scrutinise those measures.
The LCOs are also technically introduced to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Wales so actually the Committee are scrutinising her, they are not by any stretch of the imagination a second chamber for the Assembly nor do they have any role in improving legislation.
If that is not worrying enough David’s view on the Committee’s role in the referendum is positively power-grabbing. He said:
The committee is bound to be looking at the issues around the referendum, perhaps the timing, funding for both sides and of course the question
And when asked to confirm if the Committee would investigate issues around the referendum he added: I think it would be amazing if we weren’t looking at that
Now I may be wrong on this but I was under the impression that the format of the question is a matter for the Secretary of State for Wales in consultation with the Electoral Commission and that there is only a ten week period in which to resolve that which is already underway.
Surely we cannot allow a Select Committee investigation to delay the process even further especially when the other matters David cites, namely timing and funding for both sides are matters for Cheryl Gillan and the Electoral Commission.
Let us hope that David Davies does not see his role as Chair as an excuse for interfering in these matters and acting as a spoiler to processes that are already well-established and underway.
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I seem to recall that you thought Top Cat was the best choice as chairman of the select committee. On the other hand, he has lived up (or should that be down?) to all my expectations.
No, my view was that the quid pro quo he offered of standing down from the ‘no’ campaign was worth having and that if we had to have him as theTory chair then that was some compensation. I think Glyn Davies would be my preferred choice. Unfortunately, it looks like David is to pursue his ‘no’ campaign from within and use his position as chair to undermine the referendum.