Stephen Crabb’s devolution dilemma

The Welsh Government runs Wales and the Westminster Government runs the UK. In his role as Secretary of State for Wales Preseli MP Stephen Crabb’s main job is to ensure effective co-operation between the two. At the moment he’s not doing too well.

Last week he published his draft Wales Bill that will devolve some new powers over energy, transport, and the organisation of elections. More importantly, it will fundamentally change the way legislative powers are devolved. Stephen Crabb’s intentions are good. He says he wants “a robust devolution settlement that works for the people of Wales.” So why are the other parties in the Assembly so strongly opposed to his proposals?

First Minster Carwyn Jones says the Bill amounts to an English veto on Welsh laws. He reckons that 14 of the 19 Bills the Assembly has passed since it acquired legislative powers would not have been possible under Stephen Crabb’s proposals. These include the ‘presumed consent’ system for organ donation that comes into force in December. “It means the Assembly not having a free hand in laws that have been devolved, without the consent of a Minister in Whitehall," according to Carwyn Jones. Meanwhile, the Presiding Officer Rosemary Butler has warned that unless the Wales Bill is changed substantially there will be calls for yet another one very soon.

As with most constitutional issues the devil is in the detail. Stephen Crabb describes the current system for devolving powers to the Assembly as “unstable and unclear” and he is right. In Scotland all functions are devolved apart from those that are reserved to Westminster such as defence and foreign affairs. On the other hand the National Assembly can only legislate where powers are specifically devolved. This has led to all manner of disputes about what the Assembly can and cannot do and has led UK Ministers and Welsh Ministers going to the courts on four expensive occasions to decide where power lies. 


Stephen Crabb wants Wales to have the Scottish system and in principle the other parties agree with him. The trouble is the legal processes of England and Wales are so deeply entangled that it is much more difficult to create the clear lines of responsibility that exist between London and Edinburgh. To do so would mean following Scotland by devolving responsibility for criminal and civil justice and creating a distinct legal jurisdiction.

But Stephen Crabb has set his face against this. In an interview with the Institute of Welsh Affairs’ journal Agenda this week he says he changed his mind about devolution as a result of the 2011 referendum, referring specifically his own constituency. "I didn't anticipate that people in Pembrokeshire were going to vote for full law-making powers for the Assembly in quite the way they did,” he said. “What that says is there has been a major shift in Welsh public sentiment about devolution since the first referendum in 1997.” However, it seems the shift is not enough for him to be brave enough to propose the stable and lasting devolution settlement he says he wants.