As we all know by now, the solution to every problem in Wales is to form a committee. The more serious committees are called commissions or conventions instead.
The recent announcement of a new Welsh Government-backed constitutional commission chaired by Prof. Laura McAllister and The Rt Rev. Rowan Williams has generated a lot of buzz; given the credentials and profiles of the chairs that’s to be expected. I don’t think there’s any question that this is going to be a serious piece of work even if there’s some confusion over the terms of reference.
Nevertheless, the sobering reality is that Wales is currently averaging a commission to look at the Senedd’s powers, electoral reform or constitutional reform roughly once every three to four years. Yes, that often.
That’s before including the other non-constitutional committees, conventions and commissions – for example, the Diamond Review (student finance), the Senedd-commission review into digital media and the Burns Commission (Newport bypass alternatives).
What everyone needs to keep in mind before they get too excited about the latest commission is the poor track record we have in Wales of turning pages in a report into real things.
- Report: Commission on the Powers and Electoral Arrangements of the National Assembly for Wales (archive link).
- Chaired by: Lord Ivor Richard.
- Tasked with: Self-explanatory.
The first major post-devolution constitutional commission proposed elevating the (then titled) National Assembly to a similar level as the Scottish Parliament. The recommendations included expanding the size of the Assembly to 80 members (elected by Single Transferable Vote), introducing full law-making powers in devolved policy areas and considering tax-varying powers. The report envisaged all of this would be in place by 2011 and they left the question over the need for a referendum open.
Outcome: The proposals were watered down and became the Government of Wales Act 2006. The Act introduced limited law-making powers (subject to a complicated set of permissions from the UK Parliament). The UK (then Labour) Government rejected changing the electoral system and introduced new restrictions (such as a ban on standing in constituencies and regional lists at the same time). It didn’t propose any tax-varying powers and included a clause whereby full law-making powers would be dependent on a referendum.
Verdict: Mixed Outcome.