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“I have to notify the House that the Queen has signified her Royal Assent to the following Acts: Wales Act 2017.”
And so, with just 21 words spoken on Tuesday morning, the Speaker brought the debate on the future of devolution in Wales to a close. For now.
This, like the several Wales Acts which proceeded it, was going to give Wales “a lasting and fair devolution settlement”. That was according to former Prime Minister David Cameron as he stood in the Principality Stadium in 2015 (because nothing says ‘committed to Wales’ like a rugby-themed photo-call).
Turns out Mr Cameron was a bit wrong about that one too because, while the Act does make some very significant changes to the Welsh devolution settlement, it doesn’t provide the clear, workable settlement it was intended to. If history repeats itself, as it often does, AMs and MPs could well find themselves considering another attempt in a few years’ time.
Some of what the Act changes is very welcome – for example, giving the Assembly control over its own size and elections meaning that work to increase the number of AMs can begin. The Presiding Officer, Elin Jones, wasted no time in announcing a Commission to consider how an enlarged Assembly might work now this is within her gift.
Progress has been made in agreeing a new financial framework between the UK and Welsh Governments and, as Welsh Ministers prepare to levy the first taxes in 800 years, they have also been granted the ability to vary income tax without having a referendum.
The Act grants the Welsh Government control over planning permission for most renewable energy schemes – although notably not the major tidal lagoon project proposed in Swansea Bay.
Welsh Ministers also get control over water policy in Wales which has always been a sensitive political issue.
Fundamentally, the Act flips the devolution settlement from a devolved to a reserved powers model. Instead of giving AMs a list of things they can legislate on, they are given a list of things they can’t legislation on. This is the case in Scotland and Northern Ireland. It was hoped this would avoid some of the legal skirmishes that have broken out between Cardiff and Westminster in recent years.
But this is also where the Act falls down. The list of devolved powers is extensive and complicated. Plaid Cymru argued that the UK Government was attempting to claw back powers and the Wales Office wasn’t doing enough to stop it.
And trouble is already brewing.