Clause 1 - The Office of Communications
Office of Communications Bill [Lords]
3:00 pm
Mr Simon Thomas (Ceredigion, Plaid Cymru)
The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. I add the example of the Strategic Rail Authority, another utility regulatory body that has a member for Wales appointed by the Assembly.
I am grateful for the support of the hon. Members for Upminster (Angela Watkinson), for Lichfield, for Sheffield, Hallam, for Vale of York and for Tewkesbury on the amendment's principle. The response of Government Members such as the hon. Member for Rhondda showed that subtlety does not work and that I should have been blunter in my original speech. Perhaps they forgot what I said this morning; what was fed back to me was not what I said. That was especially true of the speech by the hon. Member for Hampstead and Highgate, which was antediluvian and anti-devolution.
The amendment does not mention the Welsh language because it deals with the devolved structure, which is the Government's chosen method. I say to the hon. Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Paul Farrelly) that if anyone were to use wrecking tactics in the devolved Administrations it would be his party because it is in control in Wales and Scotland. The arguments that have been advanced are designed deliberately to thwart my ambitions, which is a pity because I have been advocating something that many in Wales will expect from Ofcom in one way, shape or form.