Yesterday Vaughan Roderick and Betsan Powys both blogged about the Llywydd's dig at the Welsh Affairs Select Committee, a subject which Rhun ap Iorwerth brought up last night on Dragon's Eye:
Rhun ap Iorwerth: You've voiced your concern today about scrutiny of legislation, Welsh legislation, it's a new phenomenon, by the Welsh Affairs Committee of MPs. What do you think is wrong?
Dafydd Elis-Thomas: Well, in the House of Lords the Legislative Competence Orders as they're called, or the requests for proposed powers by order for the Assembly, that is scrutinised by the Constitutional Committee in the House of Lords and they do it very effectively. In the House of Commons it is not scrutinised by the equivalent committee, it is scrutinised by the Welsh Affairs Select Committee. The Secretary of State has sought to have more joint scrutiny but it appears to me that the Welsh Affairs Select Committee have not been moving very quickly on that matter. Of course that's a matter for them, but I think the Justice Committee as a constitutional committee would be more appropriate.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Do you think it's a deliberate act on the part of the Welsh Affairs Committee?
Dafydd Elis-Thomas: Oh you'll have to ask them.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: What's your hunch?
Dafydd Elis-Thomas: All I'm saying is that there may be a more effective way of doing it. They tend to want to double scrutinise and look at policy and look at measures because they have a policy interest as Members of Parliament.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Well yes these are the Members of Parliament for whom legislation affecting Wales is most relevant, of course, why not then?
Dafydd Elis-Thomas: Well it's not for them to make legislation. What we are seeking are the powers, that is what the issue is about. That's a constitutional matter and therefore I think that's more appropriately addressed by the Justice Committee, the constitutional committee of the House of Commons.
Today's Western Mail presents us with the First Minister's view on the LCO process:
“It’s still early days to give a verdict on how easy it is to get a legislative competence order and subsequent measures to work, but certainly it’s far too early to say ‘It’s not going to work very well, therefore change it’ almost before it’s had a chance to produce anything at all.
“It’s been specifically devised for Welsh circumstances and it of course creaks a bit at the beginning – anything that parties at both ends have got to get used to is going to creak. But I think with a bit of goodwill, and once we’ve had three or four, then I’m sure that people will lose their fear and get a bit of customer practice into it, because the British system almost invariably works by customer practice rather than by legalistic or formulaic ways.
“As to the question as to whether you can devise a better system – well, history will tell whether you can devise a better system. But I think we can see a lot of promise in the legislative competence order and measure system.”
Asked whether he felt there was a reluctance in the UK Government to use LCOs and so they were sitting on them for lengthy periods of time, Rhodri came up with another classic Morganism:
“These are new animals in the Whitehall and Westminster zoo and as a result they’re bound to poke at them a few times to find out exactly what they do, what they’re for, what are those hind legs for, what are those forelegs for,” he said.
“We’re bound to have that, but that’s the area where the creaking is caused by the newness, not by the fact that it’s a defective piece of machinery or there’s something wrong with the machinery. It’s just simply because it’s new.”
Well it might be early days, but a quarter of the Third Assembly's term has passed and it's increasingly evident if it wasn't clear already that the LCO process is being dragged down by devosceptic Welsh MPs. The Llywydd is right: the Justice Committee would handle these matters far more effectively and with an objectivity that Welsh MPs simply do not possess. It's all very well for the First Minister to ask us to give the system more time, knowing that in 12 months time he'll be able to wash his hands of the matter completely and leave the mess for his successor to sort out.
*Welsh saying: It isn't good if you can do it better
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