They have written to the Secretary of State for Wales, Cheryl Gillan calling for a commission that would have a wider remit than purely finance. They want it to look at the possibility of devolving other powers to the Assembly including the legal system and energy projects.

Last night constitutional expert Alan Trench said: “News of the leaders’ letter is very interesting and clearly adds to the pressure the Liberal Democrats are exerting within the coalition at Westminster for there to be a wide-ranging Calman-style commission.”

Related posts:

1. Mathematical error leads to blunder by Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales
2. Electoral Commission advice brings referendum closer

There is much in this programme that we can support – and for many Bills we must wait to see the detail before rushing to judgment.

It is deeply disappointing that the First Minister has missed the opportunity to set out proposals to drive the economic recovery, creating jobs and developing local economies by allowing councils to fund regeneration projects from future business rate income and by creating Enterprise Zones.

Welsh Liberal Democrats would also like to have seen a Health Spending Bill to establish an independent waste watchdog to examine the way money in the health service is spent.

Whilst we support measures to improve cycling, we believe a Transport Bill should also improve public transport by creating Joint Transport Authorities and re-regulating bus services.

The measures relating to local government are openly hostile. Rather than legislating to tell councils what to do at every turn, the Government should take the approach of strengthening the powers and the ability of local authorities to deliver quality public services.

Nevertheless, there are many areas of the Government’s proposed legislation where the Welsh Liberal Democrats can be supportive and we will work cooperatively with the government and scrutinize closely to ensure that the Bills brought forward are as effective as possible.

Related posts:

1. Welsh Liberal Democrats’ Legislative Priorities
2. Welsh Liberal Democrats Announce Legislative Priorities
3. High level recognition for complexities of Welsh legislative process

Our manifesto supported both Barnett reform and tax-varying powers, as being proposed for Scotland. In contrast Labour stood on an election manifesto that was, at best, ambivalent on increased financial autonomy. Carwyn Jones now appears to have performed an about turn.

Requests for further powers can not be conceived as part of a short term political tactic to blame all of Wales’ woes on the Westminster Government.

For over a decade, the Labour government in Westminster refused to countenance the devolution of any financial powers whatsoever, happily bestowing on local councils powers that it would not contemplate for the National Assembly. Now, for the first time, there is a government in Westminster who is willing to consider positively the case for further financial powers to be devolved to Wales.

It is important that Wales makes a strong case for financial powers. This case needs to be based on evidence and have maximum support across political parties and across Wales. Today, Carwyn Jones must make the leap from short term opportunist leader of the Labour Party to become the First Minister for all of Wales with an agenda that commands respect. He must set out with clarity and intellectual rigour an approach to financial powers that is designed to build a coalition of support in Wales and that demands the respect of politicians in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Westminster. If he does that he will have the full support of the Welsh Liberal Democrats.

Related posts:

1. Welsh Liberal Democrats Announce Legislative Priorities
2. Welsh Liberal Democrats’ Legislative Priorities
3. Welsh Liberal Democrats call for St David’s Day Bank Holiday

The Community Bill of Rights will give communities a new range of powers over issues such as homes, public services, local democracy and cultural assets. The Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats is taking the step of announcing this now to help persuade community activists of the value of a Yes vote.

The Community Bill of Rights would contain a series of proposals for community councils and local authorities such as:

• Creating a new planning use for second homes and HMOs, so communities can decide how many they want in their area
• Giving protection to buildings that are of importance for social and cultural reasons, such as the Vulcan pub in Cardiff
• Creating a new listing system for village green and other spaces that have community value – making it harder to develop on them
• Developing plans, similar to the Liberal Democrats in the UK Government, to restrict “garden-grabbing,” by designating gardens as greenfield sites in planning law so they cannot be built over so easily
• Developing a “Community Right to Buy” which would give community councils the automatic right to bid to take over services that local authorities are closing, such as leisure centres or libraries
• Making it easier for Community Councils to establish housing or small energy development, providing local services and providing an income for the Council
• Re-assert the role of community councils as leaders of communities with a power of general competence and refresh local democracy

Kirsty said: “I am proposing a Community Bill of Rights to make sure that every community in Wales has the power to decide how it should look in the future. The current Labour-Plaid government has taken far too much from our communities for itself. This law will help redress that balance and give power back to local people.

“If Wales votes No on Thursday, we would have to pursue all these proposals individually, which could cumulatively take over a decade. A ‘YES’ vote means this can be a priority. The No campaign likes to pretend that they are the champions of localism but they are either misleading or don’t understand what devolving power is. A Yes vote means that we can get on with devolving power to communities so that they can decide what’s best for them.”

Related posts:

1. 100 Days: The positive impact for Welsh people of the Liberal Democrats in Coalition
2. Welsh Liberal Democrats Announce Legislative Priorities
3. High streets vital to local economy and community cohesion

‘How do we build a participatory and deliberative democracy? Or, put another way, ‘How do we involve more people in politics that ensures political change?

It is critical subject and I would like to thank the Institute of Welsh Affairs and Cymru Yfory for organising this evening’s event.

Liberalism is about power. Who wields it, on behalf of whom and to what purpose. I believe how we ‘do’ politics is critical to what we achieve in politics. Anyone who thinks such questions are irrelevant to voters need only look at the response to the Westminster expenses scandal earlier this year.

In creating a Welsh Assembly, we believed that we were not just creating a new policy-making mechanism. We were trying to create a new politics; in touch with our communities; engaged and engaging. One which forged a new consensual politics.

For me, it was about creating a politics in which Wales took responsibility for its own decisions and engendering a more self confident nation. As we approach the end of the Third Assembly and the referendum in March, now is a good time to take stock.

We have achieved much of what we set out to do; a more consensual politics, with two successful coalition governments; politics with an equal representation of women. But it is telling that during the recent ‘ten years of devolution’ celebrations, many AMs said that the most important thing we had done was ‘to secure devolution’ itself.

Back in the 1997 we were campaigning for a single goal, a goal for which we had fought for decades, centuries even. But devolution is not the final goal, it must be a means to an end, the means to driving improved life chances, a cleaner environment, better schools, first class healthcare.

The first question we must ask it how do we ensure Wales takes more take responsibility?

It concerns me that a certain lack of responsibility permeates Welsh politics. This is particularly apparent now in the new political climate, in which governments in London and Cardiff are of different colours. This is partly about the attitudes of individuals and parties. But it is also about the devolution settlement that we have.

This has been illustrated in recent weeks with the argument between Wales and Westminster over the Comprehensive Spending Review and S4C.

The CSR has illustrated, on one level, the need to reform Barnett so Wales has a fairer settlement. More importantly in my view, it illustrated the urgent need to secure not just more money but more fiscal responsibility, so that we can move away from ‘begging bowl’ politics. It is only by ensuring that Wales has the ability to raise income that we will avoid the political bun fight we have seen over the CSR.

We also need to accept more responsibility when it is offered. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the S4C decision. The reason why Welsh language broadcasting is not a devolved matter is because Rhodri Morgan told the last Labour government that he didn’t want to have responsibility for it. Difficult then to complain now that we no influence over the issue!
So how can we ensure that our national Assembly grows and matures?

Government in Cardiff, government by 15 people in Cardiff Bay, has the capacity to be just as distant from the people of Wales as any Westminster Government. We must continue to work to involve more people in political process.

Firstly, the National Assembly rather than the Welsh Government should have power to make significant appointments to quangos and bodies that scrutinise of the Government – such as the new Welsh Language Commissioner . How can the Welsh language Commissioner for example, truly scrutinise Government, if she (we can hope!) is appointed by and responsible to government ministers?

Secondly, I want to improve the way we make laws. AMs need a fair chance to evaluate every piece of legislation. At the moment, Private Members Bills do not need to be properly drafted before AMs can reject them. And the finance committee should have the power to demand information on the financial impact of bills – before they become law.

We also need to engage the public in scrutinising draft legislation. Producer interests tend to be well represented in the Assembly but less so consumer interests. We speak to teachers and not pupils, bus companies but not passengers.

We recently considered legislation requiring local councils to promote cultural activity in their areas. AMs heard from museums
and librarians but we didn’t hear from the public that use libraries and art galleries. Still less did we hear from people who don’t use these facilities but might like to.

There are also two Westminster traps I worry that the Assembly is falling into. The first is passing very broad measures that leave all the details to regulation issued by a single Minister at a later date, usually without any scrutiny. We are in danger of passing huge swathes of power to ministers who openly admit they are not sure if or how they intend to use them, let alone how a future Minister might use them. For example, the Local Government Measure allows Ministers to impose punitive sanctions against local government for failing to meet targets that have not even been set.

The second Westminster trap is that we are so pleased that we can pass legislation that we do so without considering whether a new law is the right mechanism. More law doesn’t always mean better law.

Thirdly, the budget is the single most important decision that the National Assembly makes each year. The budget needs to be open and accessible – for AMs to scrutinise, for auditors to examine and for the public to understand. However, for the last few years, the budget has been incomprehensible and lacking in key factual information. We must make it easier for the public to find out exactly how much money goes to each spending programme.

The final question we should ask is how can we strengthen local democracy?

For me as a liberal, democracy is all about empowering people. I have illustrated ways of bringing more people into the political process in Cardiff Bay.

We also need devolution from Cardiff Bay to our local communities. The Bay is as remote from my constituents in Talgarth as London. I suspect many people in Butetown feel the same way.

So we need to devolve power from Cardiff bay to our local councils and communities. Even councils can be remote and unresponsive but they are the key mechanism by which communities can improve their area. To empower those councils to deliver services as they see fit, the Welsh government needs to reduce the many constraints placed upon them.

I’ll give you an example. Councillors in Merthyr will tell you they can access money to build a new zebra-crossing, but one that is unusable because they have no money to repair the surrounding pavement. There is a funding stream to fund part of the solution but not all of it. Why is that the case?

The Welsh Government has 60 different grants available to local authorities with a total value £740m. This compares with core funding for councils of just £4.2 billion. 15% of money going to local Government has to be spent on exactly what the national Government dictates, with all the bureaucracy associated with it. That ring fencing undermines democracy, leaving local communities unable to make their own spending decisions.

Fair votes in our local councils is critical too because of the change it would engender and the people it would empower. PR for local government would sweep away the last vestiges of the one party states in our local communities. It would turf out the cabals who run affairs from behind closed doors. Fixing the decisions in the Labour club on the Tuesday night before the charade of participatory democracy on the Thursday. Above all, It would make every vote count. And you cannot begin to think about how to improve participation in democracy without first ensuring that every vote does counts.

I hope in my remarks that I have explained the Welsh Liberal Democrats take on building a truly participatory democracy.
I have suggested three steps we can take:

• To build a devolution that is more mature and more responsible.
• To reform our assembly to make it more participatory, drawing on a greater pool of talent to improve decision making, and to hold the government to account.
• And finally, to empower local government and communities to deliver for themselves.

If we can make progress on those three issues, then we will be well on the way to delivering the truly inclusive participatory democracy that Wales deserves.

Related posts:

1. The cracks in our democracy are growing
2. Restoring our trust in democracy
3. Spicing up democracy

They say that this is the preferred date put forward by the Welsh Assembly Government to Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan. She is expected to agree that voters will go to the polls on that day for the third Welsh devolution referendum in 32 years, after 1979 and 1997.

The Welsh Government says it is awaiting Mrs Gillan’s formal response.

Update: Commenting on the announcement, Kirsty Williams AM said:

“The UK Government has acted swiftly to ensure a referendum on law making powers takes place on 3rd March 2011. The Liberal Democrats in Government at Westminster are now delivering on our 100 year old commitment to devolve real power from Westminster to the Welsh people.

“The Welsh Liberal Democrats will want to work constructively with progressives in all parties to secure a ‘yes’ vote that ensures that for the first time, laws that affect only Wales are made only in Wales.”

Related posts:

1. A risk too far
2. Poll provides boost for ‘yes’ campaign
3. A ‘yes’ vote on St David’s Day

David point out that this issue is the elephant in the room when the debate as to how people should vote in this referendum gets underway with a vengence. It is already the case for example that True Wales are misrepresenting the question by suggesting that higher taxes will be the outcome of a ‘yes’ vote, a claim that is entirely without foundation.

More importantly David illustrates that tax-varying powers do not have to lead to higher taxes but can actually benefit Wales economically and create jobs:

When it was pointed out to Mr Melding that many people would be likely to take the view that giving the Assembly tax-levying powers would simply lead to a higher tax burden, he said: “What I would suggest is that if Wales really wants to be enterprising and attract investors who want to stay here … the best thing we could do is lower the level of corporation tax, the tax that companies have to pay, but perhaps look at something quite radical like the top rate of income tax and lowering that, so that people who are higher earners – and there aren’t many in Wales – come to Wales and start up businesses, and because they do that they are able to retain more of the wealth
they are generating.

Mr Melding said the new economic programme brought in by Plaid Cymru Deputy First Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones contained “secondary devices”, while measures that could really transform the Welsh economy would stem from tax powers.

It is these sort of powers that would enable the welsh Assembly to have a real impact on the quality of people’s lives.

Related posts:

1. The case for tax varying powers
2. Senior Tory says err don’t vote Tory.
3. Tory MP threatens cuts if Wales votes yes in referendum

“The ‘Barnett formula’ system of funding is widely discredited and delivers a poor deal for Wales. But it is Labour’s formula – invented by Labour and sustained by successive Labour governments.

“The First Minister has introduced an inaccurate and partisan claim into what should be a cross party campaign. He is seeking to hijack the referendum for his own party political advantage. IN making such statements without discussing it with the leaders of other parties who support a yes vote, he is in danger of dividing the ‘yes’ campaign before it even gets off the ground.”

Related posts:

1. Premature and Sick Babies Remain at Risk in Wales
2. At extreme risk – the state of our NHS
3. Nearly half of NHS repairs backlog put staff and patients at high and significant risk

Mr. Morgan will be Welsh Labour’s representative on an all-party steering group charged with getting the campaign off the ground. He will be joined by Plaid Cymru’s South Wales Central AM Leanne Wood, Preseli Pembrokeshire Conservative AM Paul Davies and Rob Humphries, the former president of the Welsh Liberal Democrats who is director of the Open University in Wales. Party researchers will also sit on the group.

Unlike the referendum in 1997 when a narrow Yes vote resulted in setting up the Assembly, next year’s will not be so much of a “game changer”, the former First Minister argued.

“This time it’s about the extent of the powers the Assembly should have.”

Related posts:

1. Establishing a Yes campaign by Joseph Carter
2. Short campaign and tough economic times could lead to yes vote
3. Poll provides boost for ‘yes’ campaign

Dafydd Elis-Thomas said he has no “constitutional objections” to it taking place on 5 May when the assembly elections and UK voting referendum are held. Cost is the “overriding issue”, he said.

Wales Home has the full text of Dafydd Elis-Thomas’ letter to the Secretary of State for Wales:

You kindly consulted me formally about the timing and question of the referendum under Part 4 of the Government of Wales Act 2006. I appreciated this formal recognition of the constitutional relationship we need to have and it is in that spirit that I write following the DPM’s statement to Parliament on July 5th.

Y Gwir Anrh yr Arglwydd Elis-Thomas AC, Uywydd
The Rt Hon the Lord Elis-Thomas AM, Presiding Officer

Related posts:

1. Presiding Officer considers his position
2. Tory MP threatens cuts if Wales votes yes in referendum
3. Building a progressive alliance for fairer votes