German presses Hain on 'jigsaw legislation'

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 21st Jun 2005

Peter Hain's white paper on Assembly powers will lead to a jigsaw settlement for Wales according to Mike German, Assembly leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats.

The Secretary of State was in Cardiff Bay today to answer questions on the Queen's Speech, which included the promise to enhance the powers of the Assembly.

The White Paper, which was published last week, proposed that the Assembly would be able to draft its own laws, but only with the approval of Westminster.

Mr German said: "The White Paper is very ambiguous about how broadly the Assembly will be able to define its enhanced powers. Peter Hain acknowledged this today.

"The breadth of the orders in council is likely to vary greatly. It is unclear how these jigsaw pieces will fit together. Will the Assembly be able to legislate over a whole area of policy or will it require specific narrow bids from the Assembly?

"This new process will lead to jigsaw pieces large and small, and it is unclear how they will fit together in governing Wales. By 2011 we should have seen much legislation coming from the Assembly. From there it should be a simple step towards primary powers as recommended by Richard. We could then complete the jigsaw for the benefit of the people of Wales.

"Hain's jigsaw may say 0-8 years until the pieces can fit together for any referendum, but by that time the Assembly should already be legislating in many areas and a referendum to put in the final pieces would be unnecessary. Only by getting primary powers can we properly ensure that the jigsaw fits together in its entirety."