Submission of Kevin Brennan MP to the Richard Commission - Friday 25 July 2003.
1. The Powers of the AssemblyI
In my view this is a question which should be addressed primarily in a pragmatic way. The current settlement has led to an increase of the number of Wales only Acts being passed through the UK parliament. It seems to me that this is encouraging and the question of primary legislative powers should really be raised when it is clear there is a major lag jam in proposed legislation for Wales in Westminster. I do not detect that we have yet reached that point, although I personally believe that at some time in the future it may be that there is a genuine need to deal with the back log of measures which cannot be implemented through the UK parilament because of time constraints.
It is dificult to see how full primary haw making powers over the current devolved areas could be extended without a referendum, not least because it would be difficult for any government to get such a measure through parliament without a specific mandate
I do not believe there is any call far tax varying powers along the Scottish or any other model for the National Assembly. It has always been my view that the tax varying powers extended to Scottish Parliament are essentially meaningless since the idea that the Scottish Parliament could reduce income tax and still receive the same level of revenue from the centre is absurd. GDP in Wales remains well below the UK average so the idea of increasing the rate of tax on the people of Wales would be extremely regressive for the foreseeable future.

2. Structure and Working arrangements of the National Assembly

The original idea of the National Assembly as a single body combining the legislative and executive function always seemed to me to be problematic.
Inevitably the Assembly has developed its own ways of overcoming this inherent contradiction. It is still my view that the blurring of the lines between the Assembly as a corporate body and the executive or Welsh Assembly Government was one of the major problems in public perception of its first term.
The clearer separation that now exists between the executive arm and the parliamentary arm is very welcome and it is to the credit of the executive that it has been accommodating in allowing this to develop. Should the Assembly acquire greater law making powers it would be convenient to clarify these relationships.
3. The relationship between th Assembly in Cardiff and the UK Parliament including the role of the Secretary of State for Wales
Under the current arrangement the role of the Secretary of State for Wales is vital. It was most welcome that it was retained in the most recent reshuffle albeit in a shared post.
With law making shared between Cardiff and Westminster, the role of the Secretary of State as a conduit between the National Assembly and the UK government is absolutely vital. Tensions within the current arrangements sometimes arise when an agreement between the UK government and the Welsh Assembly Government regarding the shape of a place of legislation encounters opposition from Members of Parliament in Westminster. However this is not an unusual tension and is not exclusive to legislation concerning Wales.
In my view the most important thing is to develop ways of ensuring that legislation is well scrutinised in advance of being published in the final form or in bill form, to minimise the tensions that can arise from the current arrangement.
4. Relations between the Assembly and Whitehall
In the current context it is relatively straightforward to maintain communications between officials in Whitehall and the Assembly within a unified civil service. However the tensions begin to emerge when considering the problems of different parties being in charge in different parts of the country. This has already been experienced in the coalitions in Scotland and in Wales, but would be even more obvious should the government in the UK be run by a different party from the government in Cardiff. There is therefore a need for clear protocols if the unified UK's civil service is to continue to operate in this way. The presents new challenges which need to be considered before the situation arises. This is an area which my own Parliamentary Select Committee the Public Administration Select Committee are beginning to look at, and may need to be considered in a Civil Service Bill.
5. The Electoral, System
I was one of the strong proponents of using the additional member system for the National Assembly elections prior to 1997. I believe that in broad terms the system has worked well to produce an Assembly which creates the right balance between proportionally and the need to form a government.
In one sense the system has worked as intended. Had there not been a proportional system in place in 1999 Labour would have gained two thirds of the seats and well under forty per cent of the vote. I have no doubt in my mind that this would have been regarded as an illegitimate result by the voters of Wales, and would have done little good to the political culture of Wales or the Labour Party in Wales. Indeed that this sort of Assembly might well have been rejected in the first place In the referendum.
The weaknesses however with the form of additional members system adopted by the Assembly are as follows.
Because the Labour Party does overwhelmingly well b the constituency section it has very lithe stake in the regional section of the list. Indeed in 2003 A lost its only regional member ironically through doing well in the conaituency section b Mid and West Wales.
There 1s some confusion and i!1 fleeting regarding the role of the regional member and in particular the ability to stand in both sections of the ballot In my view it would have been far better to simply have a constituency section and reflect the constituency vote across into a national or sub-regional list I have changed my mind in that I believe that it would be better if that list were open.
In practice It would be unlikely that the voter's would often alter the order presented to them by the political parties, but it would give them the option of rejecting an unpopular candidate and allow them the democratic opportunity to prevent parties from iloisting an unwelcome individual on them.
I would therefore strongly recommend that the current system be retained, but that the second vote either be abolished, or a rule introduced to prevent individuals standing in both the constituency and regional systems of the ballot and that the list be "open".