I am grateful to my parliamentary leader for that intervention. Plaid Cymru has a long-standing policy to make the case at Budgets and autumn statements in this House for the lowering of the VAT level for the tourism industry in Wales. The all-party parliamentary group on the tourism and hospitality industry in Wales, chaired by the hon. Member for Ceredigion (Mr Williams), has also called for that reduction, which would be of huge benefit to the industry.
The Under-Secretary of State for Wales, the hon. Member for Aberconwy (Guto Bebb), has said tonight that he will not support the new clause because the proposal was not part of the Silk commission’s recommendations. This is a classic case of the UK Government cherry-picking powers as it suits them and using the Silk commission as a justification for omission—in this case in relation to VAT—while dismissing its recommendations for the inclusion of measures on, for example, APD.
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Furthermore, the Silk commission reported before the Scotland Act was passed and well before the UK voted to leave the European Union. Both events are pivotal in determining a devolution settlement for Wales that is intended to last a generation and both are ignored at our peril. The British state will go one of two ways after Brexit: a return to highly centralised control here in Westminster or accelerated devolution to a more decentralised state. Buoyed by the referendum result,
proponents of the former are already mobilising against devolved politics, with the leader of the Conservative party in the Assembly even questioning over the summer the existence of the institution. On the other hand, however, more sensible voices such as the Constitution Reform Group in the other place headed by Lord Sainsbury, another Conservative, are calling for a voluntary union between the nations of the British state. I place myself firmly in the latter camp.
The pace of events is accelerating quickly and Brexit will only lubricate the situation. The UK Government must keep up. There is a danger that both the Scotland Act and the Wales Bill will be redundant before their provisions even come into force. Denying Wales the same powers as Scotland on VAT seems a deliberate attempt to undermine revenues for the Welsh Government, especially considering the buoyancy of VAT revenues in Wales. As the Secretary of State and the Minister reflect on the Bill in the coming weeks and months, I hope that they will withdraw their objections.
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