We need to talk about devolution, Carwyn tells PM
FIRST MINISTER Carwyn Jones has called on David Cameron to engage directly with him to address issues about the next chapter of devolution – and told MPs that letters to the PM can go unanswered.
Mr Jones warned MPs of the threat of the “ultimate tragedy” of the UK breaking up.
The Welsh Labour leader also warned that key bodies designed to bring senior figures from the different governments around the UK had stopped meeting regularly and pressed the Prime Minister to engage with him on the planned Wales Bill.
Mr Jones said he met Welsh Secretary Stephen Crabb on average once a month but only sees the Prime Minister on an annual basis.
He said: “It’s probably fair to say that we do not have regular contact with the prime minister to the extent that letters are not always answered. “
The First Minister said the Welsh Government had “not had a response” about discussing the proposed Wales Bill.
Stressing the need for such high-level discussions, he said: “The problem with the Wales Bill is the involvement of every Whitehall department. Now, the Wales Office only has a certain amount of influence across Government at a UK level.
“There needs to be interest shown by the Prime Minister, as the Head of Government. With such a wide-ranging piece of legislation as the Wales Bill, whilst the contact with the Wales Office is welcome, actually there does need to be contact on a Head of Government-Head of Government basis in order to ensure that the Wales Bill is fit for purpose.”
During a visit by the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs select committee to the Assembly, Mr Jones said the Welsh Government was not consulted by the UK Government about the promises made to Scotland during the independence referendum campaign.
Warning of trouble ahead unless new constitutional arrangements are put in place, he said: “I think there is a danger that in time we will see fissures emerge. They will widen and I think the UK could start to creak.”
Mr Jones also raised concerns about a lack of understanding of devolution among UK departments, stating: “The understanding of the Welsh devolution settlement does vary between departments in Whitehall. Defra have a good understanding of it because they meet regularly with us; the Ministry of Justice probably have the worst understanding of it, and the Home Office not far behind, because they don’t operate in that context.
“We have had occasions where they have not considered different structures in Wales, particularly with regard to responses to emergencies and so forth.”
Warning of long-term threats to the existence of the UK unless action is taken, he told the MPs, who included former Welsh Secretary David Jones: “What worries me is we end up in a situation where the tensions that exist can’t be managed and accommodated because of the current structure and that leads to a break.
“That, to me, would be the ultimate tragedy if the UK were to break. It’s been flexible enough thus far but I don’t think flexibility is going to be enough for the future; there needs to be a far more formal structure in terms of understanding what the UK Parliament does, understanding what the devolved administrations do...
“I don’t argue that we should have the exact same powers as the Scottish Parliament but I just don’t think that having conversations in different rooms is going to work in the future.”
Looking ahead, he told the MPs: “The end-point is a federal set-up. That’s the end-point, in terms of it being stable.”