Clause 103 — Proposal for referendum by Assembly
Government of Wales Bill (Programme) (No. 3)
8:15 pm
Paul Murphy (Torfaen, Labour)
The Secretary of State has made the constitutional points extremely well and I agree with him. But does he agree that there is a political element to this matter, too? Any decision to go ahead with the referendum to seek primary powers for the Assembly would have to be the result of political consensus between the Government, Parliament, and the Welsh Assembly Government. That is important, as is any vote in the Assembly. The Assembly on its own does not reflect completely the views of the people of Wales, because we have a role in that as well as Members of the House of Commons. The political reality would be that there would have to be an agreement and a consensus between Parliament, Government and the Assembly.