Mr. Roger Williams (Brecon and Radnorshire) (LD): Before we adjourned, I indicated that I was coming to the end of my contribution, but various things happened during lunch and things moved on. I noticed on the annunciator screen that there was a debate on mountain rescue, which is obviously a big issue in Wales. Indeed, the hon. Member for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney has been particularly prominent in advocating that mountain rescue teams have statutory support, and I hope that the Minister will consider that because those teams are important. They not only save people in the hills, but look for missing people and help the police, and they need support. They are funded mostly through charity, but also through their own contributions.

During my contribution this morning—it was lengthier than I intended—it was pointed out that I had not mentioned agriculture, which was unbecoming of me. There is real concern in the sheep industry about the imposition of electronic identification devices. I think that we have made the case that it would be entirely inopportune to impose them on the sheep industry in Wales and England. Good work has been done in the Assembly and is being done by the Minister in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and I ask the Secretary of State to lend his support to that as well, because we can make some progress on it.

Many people were disappointed by the content of the Queen’s Speech, which was rather short. While President Obama and others look at radical reform in these times of struggle, the Government seem to be plodding on in the same direction, which has failed to bring us the changes that Wales needs. I look forward to the Minister’s reply and to seeing whether he can beef up and brighten up the Queen’s Speech.

Dr. Hywel Francis (Aberavon) (Lab): It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Brecon and Radnorshire—I seem to make a habit of it. He has, as ever, provided us with a tour de force; it was certainly a tour of Wales anyway. In many respects, he belongs to a fine radical tradition that has been well established in Brecon and Radnorshire. His distinguished predecessor was Richard—now Lord—Livsey, and before that we had his friends Caerwyn Roderick and Tudor Watkins. I am sure that they would have been proud of his contribution.

I was struck by some of the phrases and the principles that underpinned the contribution made by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State—particularly by his emphasis on the fact that the legislative programme is very much a partnership and by what he described as the Government’s desire for people to show responsibility to one another. That was very much an echo of President Obama’s inaugural address yesterday, which I will refer to from time to time, as well as to the principles that underpin what is now emerging as a different kind of politics.

As a lapsed historian, and also as Chair of the Welsh Affairs Committee, I was struck by the tone of the Queen’s Speech and President Obama’s speech. I was reminded of that great historian, Professor Eric Hobsbawm, and his volumes on Britain in the modern world, from “The Age of Revolution” to his most recent, “The Age of Extremes”. I suggest that we are at a particular moment of history where we are moving from that age of extremes, as he described the 20th century—or what he called the short 20th century. If, at the age of 95, he were to write a volume on the 21st century, I would hazard a guess that the title would be—in the spirit of President Obama and the Queen’s Speech—“The Age of Interdependence”, not “The Age of Globalisation”. The sub-heading would be “Interdependence at home and abroad”. I think that that is what we have been hearing today. I get a sense that there is a consensus, which, as Chairman of the Welsh Affairs Committee, I want to emphasise.

I want to highlight some of the themes in the Queen’s Speech, in particular the Bills that I commend as best representing the sense of caring for one another. The first is the Banking Bill. Certainly in my constituency, whether a transnational company such as Tata-Corus or the smallest of companies, there will be a warm welcome for a Bill that strengthens the UK framework for financial stability and depositor protection.

Many hon. Members have mentioned the importance of the child poverty Bill. I also draw particular attention to the equality Bill and the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill, while the Saving Gateway Accounts Bill is particularly important to me. I hope, too, that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will consider speaking to his Cabinet colleagues to ensure that the 6 million carers in this country and the 350,000 carers in Wales are included in that Bill. Finally, I would like to mention the community empowerment Bill. All those Bills emphasise partnership, interdependence and our concern for one another.

I am reminded, Mr. Caton, that 30 years ago I was accompanied by some of your constituents—three miners from Brynlliw colliery—on a trip to the Appalachian coalfields in the United States. If one ever needed a reminder of that age of extremism, it would be that visit. We saw the denial of trade union and civil rights in those coalfields. In some places that we visited, such as Gary, West Virginia, black miners did not feel that they could participate even in trade union meetings. Thankfully, we have moved on from that, as we witnessed yesterday.

President Obama referred to the need to end the age of brutal individualism, and the legislative programme before us bears witness to that on this side of the Atlantic. I am reminded again of an historical reference. A political commentator identified some phrases in Obama’s speech as being from the English human rights campaigner and author of “The Rights of Man”, Thomas Paine. I imagine that there was an influence of Dr. Richard Price of Llangeinor in that speech as well.

There is a miners’ banner from Ammanford, which borrows its slogan from an American trade union, the Knights of Labour:

It is important to remind ourselves that that came from the United States, not from France, Russia or anywhere else. Benjamin Franklin’s great dictum appears on the banner of Tower colliery:

We certainly had an echo of that yesterday, and also in our own Queen’s Speech.

Finally, to stretch the historical metaphor really far, President Obama comes from Chicago, Illinois, and many parliamentary colleagues will be surprised to hear that the Marxist texts that graced workmen’s institute libraries in south Wales before the first world war came not from Moscow, but from the publishing house of Kerr in Chicago. That reminds us of our interdependence, across the world and over the generations. I suspect that, in an odd sort of way, we have come full circle and are revisiting that age of revolution and the importance of the American and French revolutions. I am really stretching the metaphor by saying that both influenced President Obama’s speech and the Queen’s Speech.

As Chairman of the Welsh Affairs Committee, I would like to think that we will contribute to the effective scrutiny of the legislative programme through the inquiries that we have already held and the ones that we are about to begin. I certainly think that the emphasis that the Secretary of Sate laid on partnership and interdependence is one that informed our inquiries on energy and on globalisation, as well as the cross-border inquiry on education, health and transport, and I was delighted to receive only this lunchtime the congratulations of the vice-chancellor of London South Bank university, Professor Deian Hopkin, on the effectiveness and timeliness of our report.

Julie Morgan (Cardiff, North) (Lab): I congratulate my hon. Friend and his Committee on their efforts through their education report to improve research funding for Welsh universities. He mentioned in that report the huge improvements in the research assessment exercise in Bangor, Swansea and Aberystwyth. I want to make the point that Cardiff university has not, as I think he also said, dropped out of the top 10. In fact, it has merged with a medical school since the last assessment and the medical school was about 20-something in the ratings, so we are not comparing like with like. I did not want anyone to think that Cardiff university had dropped down, out of the top 10.

Dr. Francis: I thank my hon. Friend for those comments—she is absolutely right. I think it was in a press statement that we made reference to that point, but we will not know the great success of all the universities in Wales until April, when the final figures are calculated. I am sure that Cardiff’s performance will be rightly recognised when the figures emerge, and I congratulate her on how she has championed the cause of Cardiff university.

Lembit Öpik (Montgomeryshire) (LD): A few moments ago, the hon. Gentleman was listing a series of subjects that he, I think quite rightly, would like to investigate. Further to the comments of my hon. Friend the Member for Brecon and Radnorshire, may I request a further subject that would fit into a potential legislative programme for the year ahead—that of farming?

By taking a more relaxed view on fallen stock and allowing the burial of carcases, which in my view has done no harm to society, farming or health at any point in history, and relaxing the legislation as it pertains to small abattoirs, we would not only re-localise the production of food, as well as reducing the burden on farmers, but take a more common-sense attitude towards farming. Would the hon. Gentleman be interested in looking at that subject? It would be entirely in line with scrutiny of the legislative programme and be welcomed by the farmers of Montgomeryshire.

Dr. Francis: I apologise: although I thank the hon. Gentleman for his observations, I was listing the inquiries the Committee has already undertaken. One of those inquiries, on globalisation, included an important aspect of farming—food production—and we visited a farm in the constituency of the hon. Member for Ceredigion not long ago. So, we have done some work on that, and I look forward to hearing the observations of the hon. Member for Montgomeryshire when the report is finally published early next month.

As I have previously told the Welsh Grand Committee, the Welsh Affairs Committee will also be engaged in two other inquiries, on digital inclusion and ports, which will certainly inform the debates on and scrutiny of forthcoming Government legislation.

I would like to make a few observations about legislative competence orders, and I am grateful for the Secretary of State’s kind words about my Committee. It is very much a partnership, and its role has changed considerably over the last 18 months. It has certainly emphasised the importance of interdependence between Westminster and Cardiff bay.

Soon we will scrutinise two, in many ways equally important, legislative competence orders—on carers and on the Welsh language. The Welsh Affairs Committee has grown and matured. We have engaged formally and informally with Ministers and Assembly Members, and have learned a great deal about our respective processes and aspirations. I would like to think that, in that work as well, we will benefit the legislative programme through the kinds of discussion and scrutiny that we will engage in, particularly with expert witnesses.

I am grateful for the opportunity to say something about the principles that underpin the legislative programme. As I said at the outset, the fine, historic speech made by President Obama yesterday echoes those principles. The most important aspect was his reference to the fact that we are moving away from an age of brutal individualism towards an age of concern for all, as the banner from Wernos colliery said and as the Knights of Labour said in the 19th century.

Mr. Elfyn Llwyd (Meirionnydd Nant Conwy) (PC): It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Aberavon, who described the earlier contribution by the hon. Member for Brecon and Radnorshire as something of a tour. With great respect to the hon. Gentleman, he likes a bit of tourism himself.

I am here to speak about the Queen’s Speech, which will, I hope, keep me in order. I have a copy of it here, alarmingly. Not many hon. Members have referred to it. One has to admit that there are good things in the Speech—enshrining in law the poverty eradication target of 2020 is a bold, brave and welcome step.

If he is lucky, my hon. Friend the Member for Caernarfon will speak later about the welfare reform Bill, which other hon. Members have mentioned. In effect, they said that there is perhaps too much stick and not enough carrot in it. I align myself with some people who describe how those suffering from disabilities feel rather hard pressed at the moment. Given the abilities of the House, we will be able to reach a proper equilibrium—a balance between the need for the state to be efficient and have reasonable costs and the need for fair play for those who are unable to work for reasons that they cannot explain.

I have raised the point many times before, but since I have been a Member of Parliament I must have undertaken 120 to 150 appeals over the disability living allowance, and as a Member of Parliament I have not been paid for that work. Approximately five of those appeals failed. Is that because I am a brilliant advocate?

Hywel Williams (Caernarfon) (PC): Yes.