Presiding Officer’s statement on UK Government’s response to Silk Commission report

1 November 2013

“I welcome the announcement made by the UK Government today and its commitment to devolving greater financial powers to the National Assembly. The devolution of financial powers is unanimously supported by all parties in the Assembly as a means of giving us more of the tools we need to improve the lives of people in communities across Wales,” said Presiding Officer Rosemary Butler AM.

“The Assembly will become more accountable to the people of Wales, because we will have to make decisions about how the funding for the Welsh Government is raised, not just how it is spent. This is a significant step forward in our growing institutional maturity as a fully fledged legislature.

“I look forward to considering the UK Government’s response in more detail and the implications for the Assembly’s procedures and processes. However, it is clear to me that this brings with it added responsibility for Members.

“I have already stated, in my submission to the Silk Commission, that I believe we need to increase the number of Assembly Members from 60 to 80 in order to reflect the change in the Assembly’s responsibilities and our increasing workload since the Assembly received enhanced powers following the Yes vote in the 2011 referendum.

“This announcement today reaffirms, in my view, the need for an Assembly with greater capacity and with more AMs to robustly scrutinise the Welsh Government on what will be important and difficult decisions around Welsh taxation and borrowing.”