Now that the drama of the past couple of days seems to be behind us, I do hope people will begin to think seriosuly about the challenge and opportunity of the referendum.
Recently I've been struck by the tendency of some pro-devolutionists to point out that Part 4 does not equate to creating a Scottish Parliament type model of powers. Now for the constitutional lawyers and politicians this is clearly accurate - a defined model of powers (as specified in part 4) is a very different constitutional architecture to that of the reserved powers model contained in the Scotland Act.
BUT, putting the lawyers to one side for the moment, when we get increased law making powers for the Assembly, the Assembly will indeed have power to make primary legislation in the field of health - just as the Scottish Parliament does; likewise in education, local government, culture, etc etc Now, there will of course be limits to the Assembly's power - more so than the Scottish Parliament, but the basics of the power to make primary legislation will be very similar indeed. I suspect that to Mrs Jones in Abercwmboi the dry (not unimportant however), debate about defined powers versus reserved powers models will not be of concern - the question will be - will the Assembly be able to make laws to improve the quality of my life. The answer to that question is a clear Yes - if and when the Scottish Style powers of part four of the Government of Wales Act are transferred to the National Assembly.
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