Led today for the Opposition in the Standing Committee debate on the National Assembly for Wales (Transfer of Functions) (No. 2) Order 2006. The purpose of this short statutory instrument, among other things, is to transfer to the Welsh Assembly a number of regulation-making powers under the Water Industry Act 1991.
So far, so turgid, but please stick with me.
The effect of the Order will be to empower the Assembly to make regulations affecting consumers in the supply areas of Dwr Cymru and Dee Valley Water. Most of these consumers are located in Wales, but both companies also operate across the border, principally in Cheshire and Herefordshire.
The Order will therefore have the consequence that English water consumers will be subject to the administrative control of the Welsh Assembly, a body in which they have no elected representatives. This cannot be right.
When I put this point to the Minister, Nick Ainger, he did not dispute that the Order did, in essence, create a democratic deficit, but suggested that I was making a big deal of a minor matter.
Nick is a nice man, but he is entirely wrong on this point. If a person is to be made subject to the authority of any public body, it is only right that he should in return expect to enjoy democratic accountability. In this case, water consumers in England will be denied that accountability.
This is not a state of affairs that should ever have been allowed to arise in this country. It is a structural problem created by the devolution settlement and should be addressed. It is probably capable of resolution, but simply to pretend that it doesn’t matter is just not good enough.
If you are interested in reading the debate (be warned that much of it is very heavy going), you can do so here:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmgeneral/deleg9/061206/61206s01.htm
So far, so turgid, but please stick with me.
The effect of the Order will be to empower the Assembly to make regulations affecting consumers in the supply areas of Dwr Cymru and Dee Valley Water. Most of these consumers are located in Wales, but both companies also operate across the border, principally in Cheshire and Herefordshire.
The Order will therefore have the consequence that English water consumers will be subject to the administrative control of the Welsh Assembly, a body in which they have no elected representatives. This cannot be right.
When I put this point to the Minister, Nick Ainger, he did not dispute that the Order did, in essence, create a democratic deficit, but suggested that I was making a big deal of a minor matter.
Nick is a nice man, but he is entirely wrong on this point. If a person is to be made subject to the authority of any public body, it is only right that he should in return expect to enjoy democratic accountability. In this case, water consumers in England will be denied that accountability.
This is not a state of affairs that should ever have been allowed to arise in this country. It is a structural problem created by the devolution settlement and should be addressed. It is probably capable of resolution, but simply to pretend that it doesn’t matter is just not good enough.
If you are interested in reading the debate (be warned that much of it is very heavy going), you can do so here:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmgeneral/deleg9/061206/61206s01.htm
6 comments:
It is all very well members of the goverment,been "nice men" but again,after today I feel very angry against the lot of them!!
When are we who work hard and pay our taxes going to get any thing worth while out of this lot???
I say to hell with crediting them as been "nice men" and let the oppostion stick the boot into them and show the country what they are really like!!
Your love of democracy does you credit but what is your voting record in those matters in England that, in Wales, are devolved to The Welsh Assembly?
Your abhorrence of the deficit would suggest that you abstain, without exception. Have you?
Only secondary powers are devolved to the Welsh Assembly. I vote only on primary legislation.
The minister's view that 'it doesn't really matter' seems typical to me of this government's disdain for the principle of accountability and the contempt in which it holds the ordinary voter. It will be these 'small' matters taken as a whole that finally end this arrogant administration's reign. Well done for flagging it up!
How like a politician: You tell me what I already know and fail to answer my question, so I feel justified in supposing that you have interfered in English democracy in the past, although you may refrain from doing so now.
Thank you for your frank reply.
Sorry, Billy, you're barking up the wrong tree (if goats do indeed bark).
Your criticism would be valid in the Scottish context, but is not in the Welsh.
In any event, the point of the post is that British democracy has been damaged by this Government. It's not simply an English matter.
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