More Devolution

There has been quite a bit of discussion about whether Labour—if they fail to get a majority, or at least a workable majority, in the Assembly election—should try to form a coalition government with either Plaid Cymru or the LibDems. Although I do think it's unlikely that Labour will get such a majority, I also think that these decisions can only be made after the results are known.

Much more important now is what the manifestos of the parties will contain, because an effective programme for government can only be based on specific policies rather than just wanting to be in power for the sake of it.

As always, the big question in an Assembly election will be the spending priorities of the parties. After all, the main job of the Welsh Government is to make decisions about how to spend the block grant it gets from the Treasury. For as much as Labour would like us believe that this election is about "fighting the cuts" imposed by the ConDem coalition in Westminster, we can do absolutely nothing about the level of the block grant ... and we need to be clear that if Labour were still in power at Westminster we would be facing almost identical cuts. The choice we face is to decide which of the parties can spend the reduced amount of money we will get from the Westminster most effectively, so as to minimize the harm the cuts will cause.

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But the second question is to ask how we can better protect ourselves from decisions made in Westminster which we in Wales would not make for ourselves. The only answer to that question is for us to push forward with an agenda for devolving more areas of responsibility to Wales. At the top of that list, or at least close to the top, is the devolution of police and the justice system.

I've just taken another look at the manifestos for the last Assembly elections in 2007, so as to remind myself of what the parties wanted then and to be able to compare it with what the new manifestos will say when they come out in a few weeks' time. This stood out:

We will seek to devolve powers and funding on policing and prisons, with appropriate transfer of funds, to Wales. In line with our wish for a Welsh Parliament with comparable powers to the Scottish Parliament we would also like to see many more criminal justice issues devolved to Wales, so that we can develop a sentencing and justice system that is responsive to the Welsh context.

Support the development of community justice panels to give local people a say in the punishment offenders carry out in their community, putting right the harm caused to victims, property and community, as an alternative to jail for non-violent offenders like shoplifters or petty vandals. Where appropriate we will promote youth conference where families and victims are involved in deciding on what can be done as reparation in the community, alongside an apology and repayment to the victim.

We will assess the need to increase specific prison capacity in Wales, such as addressing the lack of a women’s unit and the possible need for a North Wales prison.

It might come as a surprise to some that these are not extracts from Plaid's manifesto, but from that of the LibDems, here. I don't know whether they will still be in the 2011 manifesto, but I'll be disappointed if they aren't.

So when it comes to forming a government in May, those in Labour who are against any further devolution should not assume they will be able to kick it into the long grass by forming a soft coalition with the LibDems, rather than the more demanding coalition they would have to make with Plaid.