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Welsh Assembly is ‘a mess’ and ‘arcane’ says Dr Morgan

by Margaret Duggan

WELSH DEVOLUTION is a confusing mess, the Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, told the Cardiff Law School last week. “It is getting more confusing every time new legislative powers accrue to the Assembly.” He dreaded to think what would happen “if this interim arrangement were, by some horrible mischance, to become long-lasting”.

He was particularly critical of the small number of Assembly members which was allowed; of the “behind-the-scenes” way in which powers were transferred; and of the “arcane” procedures.

His criticisms were swiftly rejected by the Presiding Officer of the National Assembly, Lord Elis-Thomas, who said that the devolution arrangements were no more of a mess than the constitution of the Church in Wales.

The National Assembly had hardly got under way in July 1999, Dr Morgan said, “before the inherent deficiencies of Welsh executive devolution and the ‘corporate-body’ model were becoming apparent, and the calls for a clearer constitutional settlement including real legislative powers were being heard from politicians and constitutional experts alike”.

This led to a commission under Lord Richard of Ammanford. It is the findings of that commission which Dr Morgan considers “the most detailed and thoughtful analysis of Wales’s governmental arrangements that there has ever been”, and he would like to see most of its proposals implemented.

To this end, he set up a cross-party campaign group in 2004, Cymru Yfory (Tomorrow’s Wales). It drafted amendments and briefed members of both Houses when Parliament was considering the Government of Wales Bill in 2005-06. He criticised sections of the 2006 Act for falling short of the Richard recommendations.

One of them was that the Assembly should increase its membership from 60 to 80. At present, he said, when one has taken out the Presiding Officer and the Ministers, there are barely 45 members left to scrutinise vital legislation.

In specific fields, the Assembly can obtain legislative competence orders (LCOs) to pass legislation, and he quoted the case of giving the Assembly powers over education for those with additional learning needs. It took “ten months, and involved the National Assembly, the Secretary of State, the House of Commons, and the House of Lords”, before the Privy Council approved it.

He hoped that the recently established All Wales Convention, chaired by Sir Emyr Jones Parry, will work towards a referendum on whether the Assembly should have full legislative powers, while ensuring that the people of Wales fully understand the issues.

Lord Elis-Thomas said that the present system of a gradual transfer of powers built up law-making “in a sensible, sensitive and gradualist way”, whereas Dr Morgan seemed to want a “big-bang” devolution. While he commended the Archbishop for his statements, “I would suggest that he should also have pastoral care for those of us who seek to deliver gradual and consensual change.”

Community efforts.
Old church buildings that adapt to the 20th century are breathing new life into their communities, Dr Morgan told a Church in Wales conference on Monday. The conference heard about renewal projects in Bangor and St Asaph dioceses.

“Too often we are perceived to be rather peripheral to the mainstream Monday-to-Friday life of organisations, communities, and individuals. This is another way to help us move from the edge of people’s radar screens, so that they can see the relevance of Christianity to their lives.

“A church that is closed Monday to Friday is the worst possible advertisement for Christianity. We cannot go on locking up our treasures in closed buildings any more. We have to open the doors of the churches physically, as well as metaphorically.”

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