Welsh Affairs

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 4:12 pm on 25 February 1999.

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Photo of Mr Gareth Thomas Mr Gareth Thomas Labour, Clwyd West 4:12, 25 February 1999

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that remark. I entirely agree that that would be a worthwhile area of study.

The Germans are very interested in what is going on in the United Kingdom. I was told by a member of the German Foreign Ministry that devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland would make us a more normal country in European terms. That is a telling remark. Our regime is over-centralised. I welcome the trend towards devolution. I do not share the scepticism of those who maintain that there is no demand for devolution in the English regions. That will come. Although our system of quasi-federalism is asymmetrical and will cause problems, there is no reason why we cannot have a more rational constitution. We need some joined-up thinking on the constitution as well as on social policy.

One of the apocryphal incidents ascribed to Dewi Sant, or St. David, our patron saint, is the time when the ground rose up beneath his feet when he was delivering a sermon somewhere in mid-Wales. That is a striking symbol that makes us think of raising awareness, raising standards and raising horizons. The Assembly has a crucial role in raising standards across Wales. As a patriotic Welshman, I regret to say that we are too often seen as a mediocre country in many respects. We need a crusade to raise standards across the board—in education, local government and all walks of life, including industry.