We need more ambition that just renaming the Welsh Assembly.

First Minister Carwyn Jones has called for the National Assembly to be renamed to the Welsh Parliament.
Labour’s Mr Jones said the name change would help people understand better what a Parliament does. 

But he also stated his opposition to the devolution of welfare and to the devolution of attendance allowance – a benefit that helps pay for personal care.

 So it seems Mr Jones may want a Parliament but does not want some of the responsibility  that goes with it.


Mr Jones made the comments to the House of Lords Constitution Committee, which met in the Senedd on Thursday.


The First Minister said:

 “One good thing about the Wales Bill... is that it would allow the Assembly to change its name to a Parliament, which I am personally in favour of, because people understand better what a Parliament does, because they are used to the term.
“One of the things I would like to see in the next Assembly term is that we do move to a situation where we call ourselves a Welsh Parliament. It would help immensely in terms of people’s understanding of what this institution actually is, and what it does.”

 “I accept that welfare should be a GB wide matter. That would be a matter for the UK government.
“I don’t argue for a devolution of the benefits system because, bluntly, we will be in a more difficult financial position.
“It’s one of those bonds that holds the UK together. If you take the welfare system apart you begin to unravel one of the UK’s major common themes.”

So is that the height of our First Minister devolution ambition.


Well may be not . 

Mr Jones also claimed he was told by a Whitehall department that the Wales Bill was predicated on the idea there should be “minimum or minimal” divergence in the law between England and Wales. he said. 

“The England and Wales jurisdiction now is abnormal,
It has two legislatures within it that pass laws within the same policy areas. I don’t know anywhere else in the world where that happens.
“The difficulty we have is that the current Wales bill is predicated, and this has been confirmed to us by Ministry of Justice officials, on the idea that there should be minimum or minimal divergence in the law between England and Wales.
“That cuts across the 2011 referendum result. That was not what the people of Wales voted for.”
He said that he had previously taken the view that a jurisdiction wasn’t necessary to ensure a robust devolution settlement.
“But given the fact that its at the very heart of the current Wales Bill its difficult to see how it would work without there being some separation of the jurisdictions,” he said.
“The Lord Chief Justice has said that to his mind it is possible to have a distinction in the jurisdictions but with a shared court system and a shared penal system. I am immensely attracted to that idea.”

So are Labour  calling for the establishment of a separate  jurisdiction in which case would they include  Policing and Criminal Justice?

To my mind they go together.

But you never know with Welsh Labour  who seem to like the idea of devolution  so they can pretend there  is a part of the UK they still hold hegemony  and have some legislative powers .

So long of course they do not have to do the unpleasant jobs like raising Taxes and welfare.

For those of us who would  see devolution go further, then we must accept that we can't go "cap in hand" to Westminster for ever.

I have Blogged before that I don't accept Leanne Wood's and Plaids current claim that Wales is to poor at this moment  to seek Independence .

It suggest that we are bound  to UK by poverty that it partly  due to Westminster Centralist  polices.

I don't care what name is given to the Legislature  in Cardiff Bay . What I do care that it is a government  prepared to take responsibility  and address our needs here.