Academic report supports Presiding Officer’s evidence on future devolution settlement

Published 24/09/2015   |   Last Updated 24/09/2015

The Wales Governance Centre and University College London (UCL) Constitution Unit have today (24 September) published a joint report on the future devolution settlement in Wales.

The "Delivering a Reserved Powers Model of Devolution for Wales" report focuses on the impact of adopting such a model of devolution in Wales. 

The forthcoming draft Wales Bill will provide for a move to reserved powers, as agreed in the St David's Day process. 

Such a move would place the Welsh devolution settlement on a similar footing to that in Scotland and Northern Ireland.  It would specify areas in which we cannot legislate, rather than specifying those in which we can, as is the case in the current settlement.

"I am encouraged to see that the report chimes closely with my own vision for what a move to reserved powers should achieve – a clearer, more workable devolution settlement for the people of Wales," said the Presiding Officer, Dame Rosemary Butler.

"I have previously set out the need for a principles-based approach to determining what should be reserved to the UK, and that the fundamental organising principle for the devolved settlements should be subsidiarity – the centre should reserve to itself only what cannot be effectively done at a devolved national level.  The report adds further weight to this idea and considers how this could be achieved.

"Such a principles-based approach is essential to provide a stable and sustainable basis for the settlement. 

"This report represents a welcome contribution to inform and widen the current debate around the forthcoming Wales Bill and the future devolution settlement for Wales."

To read the Wales Governance Centre report, click here.