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Mr. Bernard Jenkin: Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr. Davies: No, I am afraid that time is tight. I am sorry, as I should have liked to give way to the hon. Gentleman. However, there will be many more occasions for an exchange and I want to reply to the main points made in the debate thus far.
I want to deal mainly with devolution, but I should remind the House how we intend to address some of the wider issues. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has made it clear that in our foreign policy the promotion of human rights world wide will be a priority. As abroad, so at home: we believe that the provision of a code of human rights in United Kingdom law is essential to guarantee an open society and a wider democracy. We are therefore committed to incorporating the main provisions
of the European convention on human rights into United Kingdom law. We shall do so by introducing legislation to make the rights and freedoms guaranteed under the convention part of our own law. That legislation will be an important step in restoring trust in the way in which we are governed, re-balancing the relationship between the citizen and the state and strengthening the commitment to individual rights and freedoms which lies at the heart of our constitution.
We have also made plain the importance that we attach to open and transparent government. We intend to strengthen data protection controls and to publish proposals for a Bill on freedom of information. We shall publish draft Bills for introduction in later Sessions on which we shall undertake public consultation. We shall also seek to ensure more effective scrutiny of those Bills in the House.
With regard to devolution, the Government's proposals for a Scottish Parliament and a Welsh Assembly have caught the public mood. They are in tune with a growing feeling that government has become too distant from people's everyday lives. People understand the scale of the challenge that the new Labour Government face. For 18 years, key public services have been downgraded and demoralised. Reversing that trend will take a new form of government that is more responsive to local needs and better able to promote and encourage local initiative.
In the debate, there have been some inaccurate statements about the Government's devolution proposals, so I shall tell the House what the proposals would mean. In Wales, they would involve placing all the powers currently exercised by the Welsh Office under local democratic control. When established, the Assembly would have the powers that the Welsh Office currently exercises on behalf of the Secretary of State. The Assembly will become responsible for just about all the key public services in Wales, with the exception of social security and law and order. It will have powers to reform the quangos and it will inherit the powers of the Secretary of State for Wales to make secondary legislation.
Those changes will herald an unprecedented transfer of power to the people. Alongside the Scottish Parliament, the Assembly will lead to a radical transformation of our democracy. Given the failures and successes of the last two decades and the decisive rejection of the Conservative party by the people, the continuation of the status quo is no longer an option. The case for change is essentially democratic, but our changes are not only about democracy: by allowing people to have a greater say in fashioning their own lives, asserting their own values and determining their own priorities, I am confident that we shall be able to achieve greater economic prosperity and, by improving our public services, improve our quality of life.
I want the Assembly to be representative of all shades of opinion and it will operate in as open and inclusive a manner as possible. It will serve all the people of Wales and its membership must reflect that. The extent of our commitment to consensual politics is reflected in the additional member system by which people will be elected to the Assembly.
Mr. Davies:
As the hon. Gentleman knows, I have to finish by a specific time.
I want the Assembly to be a vehicle for establishing a new sense of partnership in Wales. We want to involve those who are within the existing machinery of government as well as people from outside who have a contribution to make. We need to break down the barriers between public and private, management and unions and between north and south. We need to set ourselves a new agenda in which our common goal is to make Wales a better place in which to live. Our Assembly and the Scottish Parliament will be at the heart of this programme of renewal.
The right hon. Member for Richmond, Yorks implied that the Government would be authoritarian and repressive in their attitude to dissident Back Benchers. I assure him that that will not be the case. We need no lessons in party management from a member of a former Cabinet which, while the right hon. Gentleman was a member of it, withdrew the Whip from a clutch of its own Members, plunging the Conservative party into chaos and allowing it to degenerate into a disorganised rabble.
Mr. Davies:
I must complete my speech. I make it clear to the right hon. Gentleman that we are entitled to ask for loyalty from party members and from Members of Parliament who were elected on the basis of our manifesto. The party endorsed the policy and the manifesto was endorsed by the people. Everybody, apart from the discredited Conservative party, allows that the status quo is no longer an option. The Conservatives held office for 18 unbroken years, but now their party in the House is scarcely big enough to provide an Opposition.
The former Secretary of State for Wales defends the status quo. Does he not realise how that is seen? He is defending a record that has brought our democracy into disrepute. The Conservative party has put party before country. It is tainted by sleaze and corruption in party and in Government. We have had cash for questions and money for influence, centralisation, denial of diversity, secrecy, cover-up, a quango state, Ministers withholding information, Whips cheating and dissembling, the Scott fiasco and the scandal of the Pergau dam. That is not the way to run a country. This Queen's Speech shows a better way to run this country.
Debate adjourned.--[Mr. Betts.]
Debate to be resumed upon Monday next.
Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.--[Mr. Betts.]
Mr. David Amess (Southend, West):
It is my extremely good fortune to have secured my first Adjournment debate for my constituents in Southend, West in the first week of a new Session of a new Parliament. [Interruption.] Ignoring the rudeness of certain sedentary interventions on the Labour Benches, after the very poor showing that we have just had, may I congratulate you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, on your appointment to your great office? You are a colleague from Essex and I know how proud your constituents must be of the honour that you have been accorded. Without wishing to show any favouritism, I wish you well throughout the next five years in the job that lies ahead of you.
I raise a serious matter on behalf of my constituents in Southend, West. It concerns the future of Essex fire services and, in particular, the future of Leigh fire station. It is with some regret that, in my brief speech, I will have to criticise the local Liberal party and the local Labour party for their conduct throughout the general election campaign on two issues, which, frankly, if they had only listened to the common sense of the Conservative party, could have been avoided.
On the dispute over pay and conditions for the local fire service, Essex county council is not--until next May--controlled by the Conservatives. It has an unusual arrangement whereby the Liberal and Labour parties have come to a working agreement. That agreement does not seem to work its way through to this Chamber, because the Liberals seem to be sitting with the Conservatives and we clearly have a Labour Government. The Liberals and the Labour party work together on Essex county council, although, during an election, they apparently utter words of hatred to one another. As a result of mismanaging local funds and introducing a disgraceful budget, Essex county council is in a financial shambles. In particular, the Liberals, who led Essex county council, supported by Labour, cut expenditure on the fire service by £1.5 million, whereas the Conservative party would have put £750,000 into the fire service.
May I quickly congratulate the Minister on his appointment? Although he and I have nothing in common politically, it would be churlish not to welcome him to his post. I wish him well in the time that lies ahead of him and make this initial plea: I hope that he will listen carefully to the important matters that I raise and do his best to help my constituents, without necessarily automatically referring to the 18 years of a Conservative Government, but by dealing with the matters that are on his table in his Department. Whereas a general debate tends to be a shouting match, Adjournment debates are constructive and worth while, and I have usually managed to secure the best that I possibly can for my constituents.
In the initial press release from Essex county council on 6 December 1996, the reason given for cuts in funding and the proposed closures of Leigh and Rochford fire stations was that it was trying to ensure that firefighters and appliances were stationed where they were most
needed. I attended the public meeting in Southend town hall. I thought that the proposals and the arguments deployed were unconvincing, and the other people present also found them unconvincing. The chief fire officer said:
2.30 pm
"This is not a cost-cutting exercise."
On 8 December, the Liberal chairman of the committee said:
"the proposals have nothing to do with the county's budget."
However, throughout the general election campaign his party was hypocritically running around with forms for people to fill in and petitions for them to sign. His party's poisonous literature said daily that the problem was all to do with money and was all the fault of the wicked Conservative Government: it was my fault in particular. It was the same old story.
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