The
creation of 200 reserved powers ‘mere trivia matters that are clearly domestic
in their nature …is to my mind an insult to the people of Wales’
‘How
did this come about? ……. It came from a long history of prejudice that has
formed what you might describe as a permafrost of attitude towards Welsh
devolution.’
‘I
believe that it has a lot to do with the fact that Wales was England’s first
colony …We have not broken through that mould’
Said
to Elystan at one time - ‘You could be a very nice chap if you did not tilt at
the English so often’
Elystan’s
response - ‘I conceive nationalism in the context of Wales as being a
patriotism that knows not hatred of any other nation. That is what Welsh
nationhood and Welsh nationalism at their very best should be and are.’
Elystan
Morgan’s second amendment was in relation of a reserved powers constitution for
Wales. Where he asked the Secretary of State to establish a working party to report
to Parliament within three years on the question of how the reserved powers are
operating in each case.
Here are extracts from his speech:
‘Normally I would jump with
joy at this development because it places Wales upon the same constitutional
basis as Scotland and Northern Ireland. It also tidies up a great deal of what
is now in a state of confusion and, if I may describe it, confetti.
When you deal with a long
period of transferring small powers, day in day out, coming from hundreds of
different sources, you create a situation that almost guarantees some
constitutional neurosis on the part of many generations of Welsh lawyers.
Avoiding that would be
utterly worthwhile.
However I am far from happy
with the situation I believe the (Wales Bill) is deeply flawed and a blue print
for failure and disaster. The fact that there are about 200 reservations and
the very nature of the reservations themselves makes the matter a nonesense.
Many of them are trivia and
their inclusion is to my mind an insult to the people of Wales.
When you have a settlement, such
as the one we are now seeking in relation to Wales, there has to be some mutual
trust and some sense of balance. ….. If the current Parliament refuses to
accept that, the whole moral geometry of the situation is affected.
How did this come about? …….
It came from a long history of prejudice that has formed what you might
describe as a permafrost of attitude towards Welsh devolution.
I do not believe that the
situation was anything different from
this:
The Secretary of State for
Wales, perhaps deferentially, went to various colleagues and said
‘What
would you like reserved, my dear chap, from your department?’
Each one said, in his mind
and his heart if not in actual words
‘Practically
everything. It does not matter how meagre, niggardly, small or utterly local it
might be, we will reserve it if we possibly can’
I believe that it has a lot
to do with the fact that Wales was England’s first colony …. We have not yet
broken the mould.
When you think that some of
these reservations – there are dozens which, to my mind, are utterly ludicrous –
can you imagine the Colonial Office of the United Kingdom 60 years ago,
particularly when Jim Griffiths was head of that department, going to a British
Caribbean of African colony and saying
‘These
are the reservations I demand of you?’
It simply could not happen'.
Lord Dafydd Wigley, Lord Murphy
of Torfaen and Lord Howarth of Newport spoke in favour of the amendment.
We’ll have to wait how the
Government responds in the coming weeks.
Will be interesting.
However read Elystan’s
contribution at the end of the debate on Dominion Status and Reserved Powers
‘On the question of of
dominion status, I was tempted to make the mischievous point that for many
centuries Wales was a dominion in law. The actual wording of the Act of Union 1536
refers to the
‘dominion,
principality and country of Wales’
Some years ago, a good
friend said to me
‘You
could be a very nice chap if you did not tilt at the English so often’
I am not sure what ‘a nice
chap‘ was intended to mean in that context, or whether I would ever qualify
within the definition. However as far as the second part of his proposition was
concerned I have never tilted at the English.
I conceive nationalism in
the context of Wales as being a patriotism that knows not hatred of any other
nation. That is what Welsh nationhood and Welsh nationalism at their very best
should be and are’.