Legislative Competence Orders
Today the burning issue which the government in Wales is keen to steer away from is, at the very least, the seeds of a dispute between Whitehall and Labour at Westminster with the Welsh Assembly Government in Cardiff Bay. The Legislative Competence Order on the Environment and the Disposal of Waste seems to be getting a mauling at the other end of the M4. Jane Davidson refuses to clarify what the problems are, and an oral statement to be given in Plenary on the government’s legislative programme in Wales (which is, after all, now very central to what we do) was withdrawn and replaced with a written statement. Because this written statement came out too late for any proper scrutiny, people were not able to ask questions on this in any effective way in the chamber today.
The First Minister and the Counsel General tried to make light of any differences by saying that this was perfectly normal, that there should be a discussion. Of course, discussion is normal but if there are fundamental difficulties, which seems to be the case, it does seem extraordinary that a Labour government at Westminster and a Labour led (Labour dominated) administration in Cardiff were unable to see this coming and discuss it before the Legislative Competence Order was initiated.
I am sure there will be more developments on this one!
