Clause 54 - Wales Spatial Plan
Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill
4:00 pm
Mr Don Touhig (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Welsh Office; Islwyn, Labour/Co-operative)
Strange as it may seem, that happens. Colleagues in Westminster and Cardiff speak to one another. That is the partnership arrangement that is making devolution a success in Wales and, when we get devolution in England, the hon. Gentleman will no doubt welcome that as well.
The National Assembly for Wales has the function of formulating and implementing policies on the development use of land in Wales. The Assembly also has functions in other fields, such as economic development, transport and the environment, that have a direct impact on development. Spatial planning at a national level in relation to Wales is properly the province of the Assembly.
I was not sure what the hon. Member for Cotswold was saying. He seemed to say that he envied what we have in Wales—an Assembly and single-tier local government—so I do not doubt that, after we have passed the Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Bill and returned with a Bill to establish assemblies in England, he will join us in the lobby, voting to establish regional assemblies in England. That is the natural consequence of his comments, and if that means reform of local government in which counties and districts are merged, as was done in Wales when his party was in government, he may have something positive to say on that, too.
The hon. Member for Chipping Barnet graciously paid tribute to the work done by the Under-Secretary of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow, East (Mr. McNulty). He was not present when the hon. Gentleman made
those comments, but I thank him, and my hon. Friend will be pleased to hear about those remarks.
I was not clear about what the hon. Member for Mole Valley said. I understood his comments to be that he does not want the Secretary of State to have a role or sit on the shoulder of the Assembly. However, most of the Opposition amendments would create a position for the Secretary of State to intervene, which does not exist at the moment. That contradicts his comments.
The hon. Member for Spelthorne is no longer in his place, and I thought that his language was somewhat intemperate in talking about jackboots and dictatorship. In Wales, we know what it is like to live under a dictatorship. Nothing in the Bill reflects the damage that the Conservative party did to Wales during the years in which it was in government. The true position is that the Tories are having trouble coping with devolution. Parliament has agreed that devolution is the way in which things should be.
My hon. Friend the Member for Aberavon spoke positively about the partnership between the Government and the Assembly, and I am delighted that my colleague, the Assembly Minister for the Environment, is in the Gallery.