"Lib Dem Victory On Gov. Of Wales Bill Saves Assembly Committees From One-Party Rule" - Öpik

9.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 18th Jul 2006

Lembit Öpik, MP for Montgomeryshire and Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, said today the Lib Dems had 'saved Assembly Committees from one-party rule' by convincing the Government to amend a vital aspect of the Government of Wales Bill.

Commenting, Lembit Öpik said: "We convinced the Government that the system they were proposing was unfair, unworkable and unacceptable.

"If the Government had forced their proposals through, committees in the Assembly would have been dominated by Labour. Instead of proper political scrutiny, there would have been one-party rule.

"With our change, Committees will now reflect the balance of power in the Assembly. It's a fairer system and Assembly Committees will function better as a result.

"On two other matters we've also secured significant change, including ensuring there will be fair representation on the influential Assembly Commission. And as a package that's as much as we could have got without Mr. Hain pulling stumps now and having it all his way in October.

"We're not happy with some other aspects of the bill, but this Government concession is so significant that we are willing to accept the pain on other things for the benefit to Wales of not having one-party rule on all the committees.

"The Welsh Lib Dems are the only party to get changes from the Government on this Bill, and I'm glad that we've made an important contribution to an important piece of legislation."

ENDS

Notes:

The Government of Wales Bill returns to the House of Commons this afternoon, where MPs will debate amendments put forward by the Lords. The debate is likely to begin around 5.30pm.

The Government originally proposed that Assembly Committees be selected via the d'Hondt formula, which would have enabled the largest party in the Assembly to dominate the Committee structure to a disproportionate degree. However, after meetings with the Welsh Liberal Democrats the Government have now put forward an amendment which means that committees will be selected to reflect the reflect the political balance in the Assembly, giving smaller parties a proportionate voice on Assembly Committees.

The Bill is expected to come back to the Lords before the House rises on Tuesday 25th July.