Lord Wigley (PC)

My Lords, I was first drawn into politics in Wales by the action of Liverpool Corporation in the late 1950s, when it purloined the Tryweryn valley in Meirionnydd, turfed out the farmers and villagers and, despite huge local and national opposition, built a reservoir, selling water at a profit to Merseyside industrial customers. That event triggered Plaid Cymru’s parliamentary breakthrough in 1966, which itself led to the SNP’s breakthrough in 1967. Britain’s 50 years of devolutionary politics grew out of the drowning of Tryweryn. Wales has a history of exploitation of our natural resources, whether it is coal or other minerals, or our water resources, on which Birmingham and London now increasingly depend, as we heard even this morning. We likewise see the exploitation of our energy potential—wave, sea currents, estuarial waters and wind on shore and in the seas around our coast. My Plaid Cymru colleagues and I want to see the maximum possible benefit from such projects coming into the Welsh economy; we want to see that happen in a planned manner that recognises the financial benefit that should rightly come to those who invest in such projects, but also to the communities in which they are based. We want to see such potential developed in co-operation with the Welsh Government, local authorities and industrial development agencies. That means working in partnership and avoiding the totally unacceptable and unnecessary tensions and bitterness generated by the Tryweryn issue. The Bill for which I request a Second Reading today deals with the democratic control of Wales’s natural resources. The Crown Estate assets in Wales include two-thirds of the Welsh foreshore and tidal river beds. It has control over certain ports, including the strategically important Milford Haven; it has rights over tidal streams, such as Ramsey Sound and Swnt Enlli; and it has control of over 50,000 acres of land in Wales. It is a major operator within the Welsh economy and will get even larger with the exploitation of clean energy potential off our coast. The Bill enables the Treasury to make a scheme transferring all the existing Welsh functions of the Crown Estate commissioners to Welsh Ministers in Senedd Cymru. The Bill is an enabling one, giving the Treasury a mechanism for such a transfer. It gives it an agenda on which to work, and it is our hope that it will pursue it. The Bill draws on the steps taken by the Conservative Government in transferring to the Scottish Parliament control over the Crown Estate in Scotland via the Scotland Act 2016 and the 2017 Crown Estate statutory transfer scheme. The powers so transferred were over property, rights and interests in land in Scotland and rights relating to the Scottish renewable energy zone. The devolved Crown Estate benefited the Scottish Government by £113 million in 2023-24. The Crown Estate is not devolved to Wales, and Senedd Cymru gets no such benefit. The Crown Estate Bill is now progressing through the Commons. I remind the House of the words of the noble Lord, Lord Hain, during the passage of that Bill: “Welsh Labour’s programme for government in the Senedd includes a commitment to pursue the devolution of powers needed to help reach net zero, including management of the Crown Estate in Wales”.—[Official Report, 14/10/24; col. 16.] The noble Lord subsequently tabled an amendment providing for the appointment of a commissioner responsible for giving the Crown Commissioners advice about Wales. Supporting that move, the noble Lord, Lord Murphy, who I am glad to see in his place today, said that he had a “great deal of sympathy” with the points made in relation to devolving the Crown Estate to Wales. There have been voices from all four mainstream political parties in Senedd Cymru and the county councils, expressing anger at the way in which the Crown Estate is treating Wales. Gwynedd Council is asked to pay the Crown Estate £160,000 annually, merely to secure access to our own shoreline. Senedd Members voted by 35 votes to 13 in support of a motion to devolve Crown Estate responsibility to Senedd Cymru. Just two weeks ago, Finance Minister Mark Drakeford stated, on the record: “I think that the Crown Estate should be devolved to Wales, as it is to Scotland, and that would give us a better opportunity in Wales to take advantage of our natural resources”. The advice that the proposed commissioner will give the Crown Estate will no doubt reflect the opinion of Welsh Government Ministers on the way in which Crown Estate profits arising from its activities in Wales should be used. Profits of the Crown Estate have grown substantially over recent years. Its revenue profit obtained from Wales is estimated to have increased from £9 million per annum in 2021 to £35 million per annum in 2024. We have to estimate those figures, because the Crown Estate, incredibly, stopped publishing profit figures for Wales in 2021. Plaid MPs have been given the lame excuse that “it is not possible to disaggregate net revenue profit attributable to Wales”. If it was possible to disaggregate the figures up to 2021, why not now? So we are left in the position where the proposed commissioner will not be told about the profits made by the Crown Estate in Wales—or will he? Or she, indeed? It is little wonder that Wales’s Finance Minister, Mark Drakeford, reiterated last week his call for control of the Crown Estate to be devolved to Wales. Mr Drakeford and the First Minister, the noble Baroness, Lady Morgan of Ely, have long called for the Crown Estate to be devolved to Wales, but UK Ministers apparently will not listen. In an Answer to a Question by Llinos Medi, MP for Ynys Môn, the Treasury Minister, Darren Jones MP, stated: “The UK Government has had no discussions with the Welsh Government on devolving the Crown Estate”. It is unacceptable that policy decisions impacting on Wales are made by UK Labour Ministers without discussing them with Welsh Government colleagues. On Report of the Crown Estate Bill, an amendment proposed by the noble Baroness, Lady Humphreys, would have required the Treasury to transfer responsibility for the management of the Crown Estate in Wales to the Welsh Government. That amendment was supported by Labour, Conservative and Cross-Bench colleagues from Wales as well as Liberal Democrat and Plaid Cymru Peers. It was defeated by 147 votes to 74. I will briefly outline the content of this Bill, which is a straightforward two-clause, four-page document. Clause 1 provides that there be inserted into the Wales Act 2017, after Section 52, new Section 52A authorising the Treasury to make a scheme transferring all the existing Welsh functions of the Crown Estate to Welsh Ministers or a person nominated by Welsh Ministers. The scheme must provide for the transfer of designated rights and liabilities of the commissioners in connection with the functions transferred. The scheme must include provision to include that any person in Crown employment is not adversely affected by the transfer. The scheme must also safeguard the interests of defence and security and matters relating to telecommunications. It must not conflict with the interest of reserved matters or with the transmission or distribution of electricity. Such a scheme may be made only with the agreement of Welsh Ministers and no statutory instrument can be made unless a draft instrument is approved by Senedd Cymru. Clause 2 deals only with the extent, commencement and Short Title. I thank the Public Bill Office for its help in drawing up this Bill, but emphasise that any shortcomings in the Bill are mine and mine alone. Such weaknesses can be addressed in Committee if colleagues are so minded. The Bill may then perhaps progress to give Welsh MPs a chance to stand up for their colleagues in Cardiff and enable the Bill to reach the statute book. I beg to move that this Bill be read a second time.