Member

One of the biggest drawbacks for me is that the amendment would allow Welsh Ministers to be consulted. That is passive: they are being consulted but are not actually part of the process. The amendment very carefully avoids any commitment to a devolution process. I know we all feel that this is a small step, but I do not know where that small step is leading us. I feel as though that small step could go nowhere and that would be the end of the devolution of the Crown Estate to Wales. There is nothing in the amendment or in the Minister’s statement here that allows us to move forward or think that we will. Is it an empty gesture, as the noble Lord, Lord Wigley, said, or is it something that we can build on? I am not too sure. I have not heard anything from any Member that shows that this will be built on and that this is the first step in the process of that devolution of the Crown Estate to Wales.