Sunday 6 November 2016

Lord Elystan Morgan has put down two amendments to the Wales Bill to be debated Monday Nov 7

Calling for two working parties to be established to report to Parliament within 3 years on –

Lord Elystan Morgan welsh politician lawyer and statesman Stock Photo

The operation of the minor Reserved Powers

and

Dominion Status for Wales



Reserved Powers

Lord Elystan Morgan states:

‘The Government’s plan for a Reserved Powers Constitution for Wales is fundamentally flawed.

Whilst a Reserve Powers system placing Wales on a par with Scotland and Northern Ireland is both just and welcomed the way in which the Government have proceeded is little short of ludicrous in that they have introduced some 200 reservations with scores of them being utterly trivial and meagre (e.g. licensing, dangerous dogs, prostitution, charitable collections etc ).

A Reserve Powers system in an enlightened society depends entirely upon mutual trust and respect existing between the parent Parliament and the devolved body.

It appears however that when the question was asked by the Secretary of State for Wales of his cabinet colleagues -

‘what reservations would you desire’?

 the answer that he seems to have received seems like -

‘all that we can possibly think of – the more mean and trivial the better’.

It is for that reason I have described the situation as imperial and colonial and that such tawdry inhibitions would never have been thought of 60 years ago by a Colonial Office dealing with a British Caribbean or African colony.

But remember always that Wales was England’s first colony and a determination exists in certain circles that it should be its last.

The amendment to the Wales Bill that I have drafted is to the effect that the Secretary of State for Wales should establish a working party that would report to Parliament within 3 years on the operation of the minor Reserve Powers with recommendations that those which are irrelevant (particularly breaking the principles of subsidiarity) and thus insulting to Wales should be removed’

Dominion Status

Lord Elystan Morgan has put down an amendment to the Wales Bill obliging the Secretary of State for Wales to establish a working party on the issue of the possibilities of Dominion Status for Wales as a land and nation and to report to Parliament within 3 years.

‘My motivation for this is that we the Welsh people should think big

For far too long we have begged for the crumbs of devolution so it is highly necessary that we should raise our expectations to be worthy of our status as a mature national entity.

The Statute of Westminster 1931 did not create a rigid model of Dominion Status but rather enunciated a principle of immense flexibility and subtleness

It stands to reason that Dominion Status in relation to Wales would be very different from the patterns existing for Australia and New Zealand, but it is a worthy and honourable concept that can enable Wales to play its full part within the life of the UK.’