The following letter from Tomorrow’s Wales Executive member Cynog Dafis has appeared in the Daily Post and Western Mail over the last few days. An opinion piece on the matter will also appear in this week’s edition of The Big Issue.

Sir,

As a member of Tomorrow’s Wales, which campaigns for primary legislative powers for the National Assembly, and a person active in the Housing Association movement, I am doubly annoyed by the decision to give the Secretary of State a veto over the Government of Wales’s power to suspend the Right to Buy.

This illustrates perfectly what is wrong with the current arrangements for Welsh legislation under Part 3 of the Government of Wales Act 2006. Not only are those arrangements inefficient in terms of time and resources, but they also enable the UK Government to block policy proposals aimed at solving practical problems in Wales.

This latest decision will make it more difficult to provide affordable housing in Wales at a time of urgent need. It will also, by introducing the Secretary of State’s veto, make an already complex system even more convoluted and is a direct challenge to the democratic legitimacy of our National Assembly.

It’s hard to think of a clearer and more compelling argument for moving as swiftly as possible to Part 4 of the 2006 Act which would grant the Assembly proper legislative powers. Instead of this constant wrangling about what the Assembly should or should not be able to do, it’s time to get on with the job of governing Wales properly.

Cynog Dafis

Cymru Yfory/ Tomorrow’s Wales      

With the All Wales Convention holding its first public meeting in Port Talbot tonight, those who believe that the time has come for Wales to have its own Parliament with proper law-making powers could not have hoped for a better example of how change is needed than the publication this Monday of the revised draft of the Affordable Housing LCO.

This blog covered this issue before, when the Welsh Affairst Select Committee originally published its report including the demand that the scope of the power be narrowed. It was clear at that time it would be difficult to find a compromise between the opposing viewpoints, but no-one could have foreseen that agreement would be so hard to reach that it would be neccessary to introduce a completely new class of power to the Welsh constitution.

For now, in addition to Matters over which the Assmebly can legislate on the one hand and matters over which it cannot (much more numerous) on the other, we now have a Matter (or part of a Matter in fact) over which the Assembly can legislate but only with the approval of the Secretary of State. The introduction of such a veto is a new development, completely unforeseen, and one which could have far-reaching impliactions. Though some have been keen to state that this doesn’t set a precedent, the fact is that the option of putting Secretary of State’s veto in place will now always be an option on the table when a disagreement arises between what the Assembly wants and what MPs are willing to give. 

The introduction of a completely new tool such as this to our system of government threatens anew the five principles of good governence that we identified in our evidence to the All Wales Convention. Starting in Port Talbot tonight, it is the Convention’s job to explain to the people of Wales how the current devolution system works and how a referendum would change things. The latest example of how the LCO system has failed to deliver proper law-making autonomy for the Assembly can only strengthen the case in favour of a proper law-making Parliament.

The first public meeting organised by the All Wales Convention will be held at the Seaside Social and Labour Club in Port Talbot on Wednesday 14 January 2009, between 6.30 and 8.30pm. 

Anyone wishing to attend should book their places by calling 029 20 694 997 or you can register online.