UK Parliament / Open data

Constitutional Reform (Wales)

Adjournment debate on Thursday, 19 May 2011, in the House of Commons, led by David TC Davies. The answering member was David Jones.
Westminster Hall adjournment debate on constitutional reform in Wales. (Relevant documents: Welsh Affairs Select Committee, session 2010-11, HC 495, and the Government Response, HC 729.) Motion made, and Question proposed, That the sitting be now adjourned.—(David Jones.)

About these Parliamentary proceedings

Reference

528 c141-66WH 

Session

2010-12

Department

Wales Office

Chamber / Committee

Westminster Hall

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The implications for Wales of the Government's proposals for constitutional reform. Welsh Affairs Select Committee first report with formal minutes and written evidence.
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The implications for Wales of the Government's proposals for constitutional reform. Welsh Affairs Select Committee fourth special report - government response to the Committee's first report of session 2010-11 (HC 495).
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Proceeding contributions

David TC Davies | 528 c142-3WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman wisely anticipates a point that I am about to come to. I will return to that subj...
Simon Hart | 528 c143WH (Link to this contribution) How many of my hon. Friend's constituents have written to him asking for this matter to be treated a...

Show all contributions (98)
David TC Davies | 528 c143WH (Link to this contribution) In all truth, hardly any constituents have written to me about this matter. A few have written to me...
David TC Davies | 528 c141-2WH (Link to this contribution) This is the first time that I have served under your chairmanship, Mr Davies, and it is a great plea...
Geraint Davies | 528 c142WH (Link to this contribution) As the hon. Gentleman will know, the Government continue to talk about greater democratic accountabi...
David TC Davies | 528 c143-4WH (Link to this contribution) I am not going to name the hon. Gentleman concerned and I shall let that comment stay on the record....
Guto Bebb | 528 c144WH (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that voter registration is of particular concern along the north Wales coa...
David TC Davies | 528 c145WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman asks me that question. Perhaps I should take that as a compliment, because the qu...
Alun Michael | 528 c145WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman may be aware of the work done by the Committee on Standards in Public Life during...
David TC Davies | 528 c145WH (Link to this contribution) Yes, I think we can all agree on that. I can only say that in evidence the Minister promised that th...
Alun Michael | 528 c145WH (Link to this contribution) Just to be clear, is the hon. Gentleman now talking about the intentions of the Boundary Commission,...
David TC Davies | 528 c145-6WH (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. I fully accept the point that he made about the Electo...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 528 c146WH (Link to this contribution) It is good to take part in a debate under your chairmanship, Mr Davies. Your surname is a Welsh surn...
Alun Michael | 528 c146WH (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend has made an extremely powerful point about the St David's day debate. That has ...
David Jones | 528 c148WH (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for giving way. He makes a point that he has made pre...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 528 c148WH (Link to this contribution) Wales can never be disproportionately advantaged. Even now, we have only 40 of the 659 seats. Whatev...
David TC Davies | 528 c144WH (Link to this contribution) I will, but I am looking at the clock.
David TC Davies | 528 c144WH (Link to this contribution) I do agree, but the evidence that we had suggested that voter registration is an issue in all parts ...
Geraint Davies | 528 c144WH (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way again?
Geraint Davies | 528 c144WH (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman accept that there is a disproportionate tendency for poorer communities not ...
David TC Davies | 528 c144WH (Link to this contribution) I will not accept that. The evidence that we had was that significant numbers of people are not regi...
Geraint Davies | 528 c144WH (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman not accept that a disproportionate—[Interruption.] I can't speak. I have los...
David TC Davies | 528 c144WH (Link to this contribution) I will be happy to give way to the hon. Gentleman again if he wants. I apologise, but I did not quit...
Roger Williams | 528 c144-5WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a very important point. A number of hon. Members have campaigned about the ...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 528 c152WH (Link to this contribution) That is true of all our constituencies.
Chris Evans | 528 c152WH (Link to this contribution) That argument has been brought out all the way through. To use the American example, however, we do ...
Stuart Andrew | 528 c152-3WH (Link to this contribution) Has the hon. Gentleman ever been to other parts of England, where there are mountains and rivers? Th...
Chris Evans | 528 c152WH (Link to this contribution) Yes. Big mountains separate Blaenau Gwent from neighbouring constituencies.
Jonathan Edwards | 528 c153-4WH (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Davies. The hon. Member for Islwyn (Chris Evan...
Speaker | 528 c153WH (Link to this contribution) Order. Two more Members are seeking to catch my eye. I intend to call the Front-Bench spokesmen at 3...
Geraint Davies | 528 c153WH (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that Wales is, in essence, a small country next to a very large country th...
Chris Evans | 528 c153WH (Link to this contribution) The point that I was coming to is that we have local links in Wales—communities are linked to each o...
Chris Evans | 528 c153WH (Link to this contribution) That leads on to my final point about the policy overall. Perhaps I can look at the issue from a wid...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 528 c148WH (Link to this contribution) We now touch on the other point that I intended to raise before concluding—the so-called West Lothia...
David TC Davies | 528 c148WH (Link to this contribution) With all due respect, the right hon. Gentleman slightly avoids the question. With the advent of the ...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 528 c149WH (Link to this contribution) I believe that we do behave en masse in representing Welsh interests in the House of Commons. The fa...
David Jones | 528 c148-9WH (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for giving way again. He touches on an extremely impo...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 528 c149WH (Link to this contribution) That is because the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2010 was born in a partisan w...
Nick Smith | 528 c149WH (Link to this contribution) I thank my right hon. Friend for giving way. He is giving a powerful discourse on the importance of ...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 528 c149WH (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree with my right hon. Friend and that was why a meeting of the Welsh parliamentary par...
Alun Michael | 528 c149WH (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend not find it ironic that the capacity of Welsh Members of Parliament to wor...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 528 c149-50WH (Link to this contribution) I will give way in a moment. I just want to finish my point regarding the consensus among Welsh Memb...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 528 c150WH (Link to this contribution) It will be the fewest number of Members of Parliament representing Wales since 1832. I am not convin...
Roger Williams | 528 c150WH (Link to this contribution) I agree that we should have had the opportunity to debate this matter in full—whether it be on the F...
Chris Evans | 528 c151-2WH (Link to this contribution) Sorry, Isle of Wight is a Tory seat. I was working with my predecessor when the Government of Wales...
Chris Evans | 528 c151WH (Link to this contribution) That is cynical, but it is what we have to think.
Karen Lumley | 528 c152WH (Link to this contribution) I am obviously an English MP, but I am proud to have spent most of my adult life in Wales, and I cer...
Chris Evans | 528 c152WH (Link to this contribution) Sorry, I did not say Cheltenham. I should correct the hon. Gentleman. Cheltenham is a Liberal Democr...
Roger Williams | 528 c152WH (Link to this contribution) Cheltenham is a Liberal Democrat seat.
David TC Davies | 528 c154WH (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for making such an important point, which I fully agree with. Fo...
Jonathan Edwards | 528 c154-5WH (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that, and I will stick the hon. Gentleman's endorsement in my next leaflet. I am ...
Jonathan Edwards | 528 c155-6WH (Link to this contribution) I totally disagree with that, of course. When the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 528 c155WH (Link to this contribution) I am following the hon. Gentleman's arguments with great interest. I agree with some of them, but I ...
Jonathan Edwards | 528 c155WH (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that intervention, but we have the Calman process and, following questioning last ...
Jessica Morden | 528 c155WH (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman think that there is any appetite in Wales for yet another prolonged period o...
Guto Bebb | 528 c157WH (Link to this contribution) Is not the real issue with the list system the fact that it is a closed list? At the recent Assembly...
Alun Michael | 528 c156-7WH (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the opportunity to comment briefly on one or two of the issues that have come up i...
Jonathan Edwards | 528 c156WH (Link to this contribution) I do not disagree with the hon. Gentleman. Coterminosity is favourable. Given that, as a point of p...
Nick Smith | 528 c156WH (Link to this contribution) It is not only about party organisation. Coterminosity is important for talking to borough councillo...
David Jones | 528 c165WH (Link to this contribution) I shall not, as I have little time. I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will understand. Over-represen...
David TC Davies | 528 c166WH (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the opportunity to wind up. If you will forgive me, Mr Davies, I will skip the usu...
David Jones | 528 c165WH (Link to this contribution) I regret that I will not. The constitutional reforms introduced by the Government will ensure that f...
David Jones | 528 c164-5WH (Link to this contribution) It is, I am afraid. I think that most of us in this Chamber—with the honourable, or possibly dishono...
David Jones | 528 c164WH (Link to this contribution) No, I am afraid not. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will forgive me.
David Jones | 528 c164WH (Link to this contribution) Yes, but this will be the last time.
David Jones | 528 c164WH (Link to this contribution) I am afraid not. I have been quite generous already. The future of the Union was mentioned. It is bi...
David Jones | 528 c164WH (Link to this contribution) The trial will continue throughout this year. The pilots will enable us to see how effective the dat...
Nick Smith | 528 c164WH (Link to this contribution) The Minister is right to emphasise the importance of promoting electoral registration. However, the ...
David Jones | 528 c163-4WH (Link to this contribution) It is fair to say that the Conservative party has evolved considerably over the past 150 years, as n...
David Jones | 528 c163WH (Link to this contribution) The Member who made that point was the only Member of the Conservative parliamentary party at the me...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 528 c163WH (Link to this contribution) The Minister quotes Professor Wyn Jones all the time, but he fails to remember that Speaker's Confer...
David Jones | 528 c163WH (Link to this contribution) He is not, because I happen to agree with him, which is precisely why I quote him so extensively. W...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 528 c163WH (Link to this contribution) Does the Minister not accept that for nearly 150 years, his party agreed with the point that I am ma...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 528 c162WH (Link to this contribution) The 2011 Act provided for the referendum to be held on the same day as elections for the Welsh Assem...
David Jones | 528 c162WH (Link to this contribution) I would be very reluctant to call into question the integrity of the Electoral Commission. It is the...
Alun Michael | 528 c163WH (Link to this contribution) I really do not understand why the Minister makes that point, as it suggests an element of disengage...
David Jones | 528 c162-3WH (Link to this contribution) I would be very loth to second-guess anything that the Deputy Prime Minister might think. The focus...
Jessica Morden | 528 c162WH (Link to this contribution) The referendum part of the election was run by the Electoral Commission, so that body is conducting ...
Jessica Morden | 528 c161-2WH (Link to this contribution) It is true that the sky did not fall in, but it is also true that the jury is out on how the electio...
Owen Smith | 528 c161WH (Link to this contribution) That point is very well made, and I look to the Minister to clarify it. We would certainly hope to s...
David Jones | 528 c161WH (Link to this contribution) May I, too, say what a huge pleasure it is to serve under your chairmanship today, Mr Davies? I join...
Owen Smith | 528 c160WH (Link to this contribution) I share some of the concern about that issue. I do not think that my hon. Friend is overstating the ...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 528 c160-1WH (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend knows that I entirely agree with him on that issue. I hope, however, that he, and the...
Geraint Davies | 528 c160WH (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that there is a worrying and increasing number of Conservative MPs who tak...
Owen Smith | 528 c158-60WH (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Davies, for calling me. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship for the firs...
Alun Michael | 528 c157WH (Link to this contribution) The alternative to that, which would also be simpler, would be regional lists by party; how people v...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 528 c146-8WH (Link to this contribution) Yes. It is ironic that the Secretary of State has written to the Backbench Committee arguing that th...
Chris Evans | 528 c150-1WH (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Davies. Like my right hon. Friend the Member f...
David Jones | 528 c162WH (Link to this contribution) We always need to learn the lessons of electoral processes, and it is anticipated that the Electoral...

Subjects

Constituencies
Devolution
Constitutions
Members
National Assembly for Wales
Wales
Taxation

Link

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