Devolution has failed to deliver since 1997 vote, warns ex-Welsh Secretary
Twenty years on from the historic referendum that narrowly delivered devolution to Wales, one of the key architects of that victory – Ron Davies – gives chief reporter Martin Shipton his scathing assessment of how those powers have been put into practice
AS WALES marks 20 years since the historic devolution vote, one of the key architects of that victory has unleashed a stinging assessment of how Wales has been run since.
Former Welsh Secretary Ron Davies said he could not name a single initiative that has improved the lives of people in Wales in the two decades since the narrow referendum win.
His comments came as a new poll showed two-thirds of people feel devolution has made no difference to their living standards.
But First Minister Carwyn Jones and Prime Minister Theresa May have both defended the legacy of devolution.
In a keynote speech to be delivered today, Mr Jones is expected to say that the nation’s profile across the world “has gone from strength to strength”.
Meanwhile Mrs May cited the nation’s success in landing a deal that will see prestige car-maker Aston Martin setting up a south Wales factory, and claiming: “The Welsh economy has acquired an
international reputation for excellence.”
On September 18, 1997, the country went to the polls and voted to establish the National Assembly. The margin of those in favour over those against was just 6,721 votes (0.6%).
An earlier referendum under the previous Labour government in 1979 saw devolution for Wales overwhelmingly rejected by a four-to-one majority.
After Labour swept to power in 1997, Tony Blair’s administration arranged for referendums on devolution to be held in both Wales and Scotland.
In that government, Mr Davies, the former MP for Caerphilly, became Secretary of State for Wales, presiding over the referendum victory.
But after winning an election that would have made him his party’s first leader in the Assembly, he stood down after the infamous “moment of madness” incident in 1998, when he was mugged at a well-known London gay cruising spot.
Mr Davies, who is regularly referred to as one of the chief architects of Welsh devolution, said the founding of the Assembly as an institution was a success – but that its effect on ordinary lives had been disappointing, and he claimed there was a “culture of complacency” within the Welsh Government.
He said: “When I envisaged that institution, I saw it doing things to improve the real life of the people of Wales – not just in terms of their democratic accountability, but in terms of better jobs, better lifestyle, better opportunities.
“And I think if you look at economic development, if you look at housing and planning, if you look at the health service, if you look at education over the last 20 years, it’s difficult to see any initiative which has come from the Assembly which has been based on a realistic assessment of the problems we face, or to see a realistic manifesto to change them for the better.”
On education, he said: “I think it’s difficult to cast my mind back over 20 years and think of any one of the ministers who’ve held that portfolio who’s made any real improvement to the quality of education and the outcomes.
“In terms of Pisa [Programme for International Student Assessment] results, we’re still woeful. This year’s examination results show that we’ve slipped.”
And on the NHS in Wales, he warned: “It is a fact if you look at most of the indices of personal health, Wales is way down with some of the worst in terms of indices of public health.”
His view, however, was at odds with that of Mr Jones, who pointed to a catalogue of successes over the past 20 years.
Since the Assembly was set up in the wake of the 1997 vote win, it has gained primary law-making powers through the Government of Wales Act 2006. And in 2011 Wales voted again to unlock further powers from Westminster.
Wales Acts in 2014 and 2017 have seen the Assembly’s responsibilities widen further to include tax-raising powers for the first time in almost 800 years and responsibility for creating laws in over 20 areas of public life.
Landmark laws passed by the Assembly include adopting a system of presumed consent for organ donation and minimum staffing levels on hospital wards, while a petition calling for a ban on single-use carrier bags led to a 5p charge which has greatly reduced their use and been adopted across the UK.
Wales was also the first UK nation to vote in favour of restricting smoking in enclosed public places and now all new homes built are required to be fitted with a sprinkler system.
And in 2013 the Assembly passed a law that cemented both Welsh and English as the Assembly’s official languages, placing a statutory duty on itself to provide services to Members and the public in the official language of their choice.
Further developments in Wales over the past two decades have been the signing of two City Deals and the scrapping of the Severn Bridge tolls.
In a speech to be delivered at an Institute of Welsh Affairs event at the Wales Millennium Centre today, Mr Jones is expected to say: “Much has been said about the fact that the deal that was on offer in 1997 was all that Wales was ready for.
“As someone who always had confidence in the idea of devolution, I didn’t share that feeling of trepidation. I was impatient for change and frustrated at the limited deal we were offering. But there was one person whose quiet determination and belief pervaded throughout the first decade of devolution – Rhodri Morgan.
“My predecessor’s sudden and untimely death in May of this year has given rise to much reflection and it would be remiss of me not to touch upon the impact that his time as First Minister had on the 20 years since the 1997 referendum.
“Rhodri found a voice for our fledgling democracy – his positive brand of ‘Welshness’ and rejection of hard-edged nationalism helped solidify Labour as the party of devolution and allowed ‘Welsh Labour’ to develop. He took us on the journey from the tiny majority in 1997 to the resounding affirmation of Welsh devolution that the 2011 referendum gave us.
“It says something quite wonderful about Wales that Rhodri Morgan, all wild hair and radical tradition, represented the centre ground of our nation’s politics for so long.
Mr Jones said the nation had many successes to celebrate since devolu-
If you look at most of the indices of personal health, Wales is way down, with some of the worst in terms of public health indices - Ron Davies
tion, including the introduction of free prescriptions for all and free breakfasts for primary school children, an unemployment rate that has halved in 20 years, the landing of major sporting events and the creation of Wales’ Coast Path.
He is today set to say: “Twenty years on from devolution, we are a nation transformed. Not just in terms of our democracy, but more in terms of our new-found confidence.
“I see every day a generation of young people who are fearless, who are educated and grounded in Wales and firmly believe that the future belongs to them, and that the world is out there to conquer. The contrast with the past is huge, it has been hard-won and it must be built upon.
“That narrow win in 1997 has now blossomed into a broad consensus – our Assembly is now the most trusted layer of government in the land.
“People feel more and more connected to the work we do, and have a very real sense of ownership of their legislature and executive, and of their politicians – and that is just how it should be.
“In many ways, a nation that was once only imagined, has now been made real. But none of that can be taken for granted.
“The acid test for devolution was always, and will always be, the ways in which we can improve the lives of people in communities up and down the country. That remains my ambition and the ambition of this Welsh Government.”
Describing the return of debates to the Senedd after the summer break, he will say: “We’ll debate, we’ll argue – we may even agree on some things – but at the end of the day we’ll also decide. We’ll make our own decisions about the future of Wales. That is what devolution has given us. A voice, confidence and control of our destiny.
“The next 20 years are shaping up to be even more eventful than the last. I’m confident that together we will rise to each challenge.”
Mrs May said: “It has been 20 years since Wales made the historic decision to create its National Assembly and, in that time, we have seen some significant changes to the way in which Wales is governed.
“I am pleased that my Government has made an important contribution to Wales’ devolution journey. We enacted the Wales Act earlier this year which delivers a new devolution settlement for Wales, further powers to the Assembly and the Welsh Government and making clearer their areas of responsibility.
“We have also agreed a fiscal framework with the Welsh Government that secures fair levels of funding for Wales for the longer term and paves the way for the Assembly to take responsibility for Welsh rates of Income Tax in two years’ time.
“The Welsh economy has also acquired an international reputation for excellence. I took the CEO of Aston Martin to Japan with me where the company signed a £500m deal which will help safeguard jobs in Wales and open new possibilities for future deals with Japan.
“We also saw the signing of the Cardiff City Region Deal and Swansea Bay Region City Deal, bringing in millions of pounds of investment and creating thousands of jobs, helping provide real opportunities for growth and prosperity in Wales.
“We have also announced the abolition of Severn tolls, which will boost the economy of south Wales by around £100m a year.”
She also made reference to the controversial implementation of the Brexit vote, which has put the devolved administrations in Wales and Scotland on a collision course with the UK Government.
Mr Jones and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon have taken steps towards blocking the fiercely controversial EU Withdrawal Bill, by recommending to their respective nation’s AMs and MSPs that they should reject the legislation.
Last week MPs voted to move the Bill, which will give Mrs May’s cabinet unprecedented powers to change the law without consulting MPs, to the next stage.
Yet the Prime Minister has said she does not want to force it into law without the consent of the Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament.
The Bill would have a significant effect on the powers held by Wales and Scotland – with Holyrood warning it could lose 111 powers if the Bill, known as the Repeal Bill, is passed. Mrs May today said: “We are engaged in another historic mission which will see the UK leave the European Union and start the process of bringing a range of new powers back from Brussels to UK shores.
“I have been clear that throughout this process we will negotiate as one United Kingdom, taking due account of the specific interests of every nation and region of the UK.
“I will continue to engage with the devolved administrations as we seek a deal that secures the specific interests of the people and governments of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, as well as those of all parts of England. Wales will always have a voice at the negotiating table.”
But Mr Jones warned of Brexit’s potential to “destabilise” the UK’s international relations as well as “internal constitutional arrangements”.
He will today warn: “There is little doubt that the Withdrawal Bill currently going through Parliament is the biggest threat to devolution since its inception, there are even some lawyers and academics arguing that is the biggest threat to the constitution for many hundreds of years.”
He will add: “It is a nonsense to say devolution should be undone because of Brexit, but that is exactly the threat that we face. One outcome of the Withdrawal Bill is that the UK Government proposes to take powers for and to itself in relation to devolved policy areas in Wales.
“It proposes to alter, permanently, the fundamental principle that has existed in the Scottish and the Northern Irish contexts for nearly 20 years but has only been conceded to Wales this year – the principle that says what is not reserved, is devolved. This is not acceptable.”
Mr Jones and Mrs Sturgeon will tomorrow publish proposed joint amendments, to “oppose the pernicious effects of the Bill”.
FORMER Welsh Secretary Ron Davies has delivered a devastating critique of how Wales has been run since the National Assembly was set up, saying he can’t name a single initiative that has improved the lives of ordinary people.
In an exclusive interview with the Western Mail to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the referendum which narrowly backed the Assembly, the man often described as the architect of Welsh devolution said statistics proved that outcomes in the economy, in education and in health had in no way matched expectations.
And he claimed that within the Welsh Government there was a culture of complacency, of being satisfied with under-achievement and of accepting excuses to justify poor performance.
Mr Davies, the former MP for Caerphilly, became Secretary of State for Wales after Labour’s landslide in 1997, presided over the referendum victory and won an election that would have made him his party’s first leader in the Assembly.
But he stood down after the infamous “moment of madness” incident in October 1998, when he was mugged on Clapham Common, a well-known gay cruising spot in London.
He served as Caerphilly’s AM from 1999-2003, when he withdrew from the second Assembly election after further tabloid allegations involving his sexuality.
When we asked him for his views on how devolution had worked in practice, Mr Davies told us: “My attitude towards devolution was that we needed constitutional change – and we needed constitutional change to address the issues of democracy, of accountability, bringing government closer to the people and so on.
“But all of that was for a purpose. It wasn’t just constitutional change for its own sake. It was so that a new institution could deliver better outcomes for the people of Wales.
“When I talk about outcomes, I mean in terms of jobs, of economic growth, of better public services, health, education, a better public control over planning policy, of land use and so on.
“In terms of an assessment, the 20 years have been very, very successful in terms of building up the institution. If someone had said to me 20 years ago that in 20 years’ time we’d have an Assembly which is viewed by most people of Wales as the legitimate focus of government, supported by all political parties, and well recognised by the British Government – and today, in terms of Brexit, having a legitimate say in what the British Government’s position is – I wouldn’t have believed them.
“So the Assembly has strengthened itself well – it’s democratic, it’s open, it’s founded on good principles of equality and sustainability and transparency.
“So all of that is very, very good and I think it’s been a great success. It’s not without its faults, but time will put those right, I’m sure.
“On the outcomes, however, I’m very much afraid to say that they have been very, very disappointing.
“When I envisaged that institution, I saw it doing things to improve the real life of the people of Wales – not just in terms of their democratic accountability, but in terms of better jobs, better lifestyle, better opportunities.
“And I think if you look at economic development, if you look at housing and planning, if you look at the health service, if you look at education over the last 20 years, it’s difficult to see any initiative which has come from the Assembly which has been based on a realistic assessment of the problems we face, or to see a realistic manifesto to change them for the better.”
Asked what he had meant by the “economic powerhouse” he had promised for Wales at the time of the referendum campaign and whether it had come about, Mr Davies said:
“The powerhouse was founded on the principle of the existing quangos that we had then – the Development Board for Rural Wales, the Land Authority for Wales and, of course, the Welsh Development Agency (WDA).
“My vision was that they would be merged, they would have regional arms, and substantial powers from the economic development unit of the Assembly would be merged with that new merged quango, operating at arm’s length and free from direct ministerial control.
“And it would be given adequate funds and the freedom to explore opportunities in Europe and with external investors, and charged with the task of diversifying the Welsh economy.
“It was also in the context of what we realistically assumed we were going to get out of Objective One [the top-level EU aid programme made available to two-thirds of Wales because of its relative impoverishment], which would have brought a windfall to the Assembly of over £1bn in its first term. And that could have transformed the Welsh economy by focusing on those areas that needed improvement.”
Sadly, according to Mr Davies, none of that came about: “The first tranche of Objective One money was by and large ineffective in its use,” he said. “Subsequently the WDA and other economic development bodies were brought under direct ministerial control, and I think that’s been an unmitigated disaster.
“We’ve seen the way hundreds of millions of pounds have been lost on initiatives such as the Technium projects, which never would have been funded if a hard-nosed realistic approach had been taken to the efficiency which would be expected
from public expenditure of that nature.”
On education, Mr Davies said: “I think anybody who goes into a school in Wales today will be enormously impressed by the dedication of teachers, and enormously impressed by the volume of directives and changes which have come from successive ministers.
“But I think it’s difficult to cast my mind back over 20 years and think of any one of the ministers who’ve held that portfolio who’s made any real improvement to the quality of education and the outcomes.
“In terms of Pisa [Programme for International Student Assessment] results, we’re still woeful. This year’s examination results show that we’ve slipped.
“If you look at the position of our universities in the Russell table, they are all operating far less effectively than they were 20 years ago.
“Now if you have a body which is established for the purpose of bringing democracy and accountability, then they have to be accountable and they have to be responsible for the outcomes of the policies which they implement. And in terms of education, it just hasn’t happened.”
Asked why that was the case, he said: “I think we have to transform our attitudes, our cultural attitudes towards work and towards aspiration and ambition. And we have to make sure that we have integrated policies across the public sector – across health, across education, across community development to bring about those changed attitudes.
“Because at the moment you could almost see the eyes glaze over of some of the decision-makers when you talk about the need for higher standards to be demanded, and for kids in school to be challenged to do their very best and to have high aspirations and to understand that if they want those aspirations to be realised, then they’ve got to work hard.
“And the need for hard work goes across all of the sectors – not just skills development, but the development of their character, their purpose and their motivation.”
Asked about the NHS, Mr Davies said: “Was it last week we had the latest figures about hospital operations? I think the health service is tremendous when it operates well and I’ve had recent experience of that in hospitals of my own.
“But the waiting lists are too long. You get the impression that key expenditure decisions about preventing health problems are not being taken.
“There’s a focus – understandably because of public concern – about waiting lists. But surely a far better policy would be to integrate health, education, social care and community development to address the issues which are leading to illness and poor health in the first place – noticeably drink, drugs, eating too much, eating the wrong food, a lack of exercise, sedentary lifestyles which are storing up problems which are not only debilitating in health terms for the future, but also very demanding in terms of resources.”
When it was put to Mr Davies that the Welsh Government would have initiatives in all the policy areas he mentioned, he said: “Well they might have initiatives, but the initiatives are not successful.
“It is a fact if you look at most of the indices of personal health, Wales is way down with some of the worst in terms of indices of public health.
“It’s unfortunately a fact that the more deprived the communities that you go to, the more evident those poor levels of health are.
“It’s almost akin to the memories that I have of 30 years ago when you could go through almost any mining town and you’d see men old before their age gasping and wheezing for breath at the side of the road because they couldn’t walk 10 steps uphill because of pneumoconiosis or silicosis, or other diseases from heavy industry.
“And now it’s the same – not to the same extent, but it’s the same type of evidence that you could see, of people who are overweight, who are not capable of looking after themselves, who are evidently not exercising or eating reasonable healthy diets.
“Those are people who are going to need expensive healthcare and operations in the future.
“It would be far better if we were to have a war on those unhealthy elements of our lifestyle.
“It’s part of this transformation of attitudes that we have to have.”
Asked how the Welsh Government should engineer such a transformation of attitudes, Mr Davies said: “That’s a problem for the existing politicians and the existing civil servants – they’re the people with their hands on the levers of power now.
“You’re asking me what the evidence is, and the evidence is over