Welsh assembly needs 'sense of purpose', Crabb says

People in Wales want better public services and an end to debate about funding and powers, the Welsh secretary has told assembly members.

Stephen Crabb said the assembly should become a full parliament with tax raising powers.

He said the UK government was committed to making the devolution settlement for Wales clearer, stronger and fairer".

First Minister Carwyn Jones said there should be a "proper discussion" with his ministers about what powers should be transferred

Mr Crabb said giving Wales new powers to raise taxes was "part of a package".

UK ministers have been pushing the Labour administration in Cardiff Bay to hold a referendum on taking control of 10p in the pound of income tax.

'National ambition'

Mr Crabb was visiting the Senedd on Wednesday to deliver his first statement to the assembly on the Queen's Speech.

He pledged to scrap the annual event, calling it an "anachronism" for an institution whose "destiny" was to become a parliament.

A draft Wales Bill outlining new powers for Cardiff Bay will be published in the autumn.

Mr Crabb said: "I firmly believe the Welsh public are hungry for us to move forward as a nation and for this place - this national assembly, this parliament - to become a true forum of debate and resolution with a sense of purpose and action, the articulator of our national ambition for economic growth, wealth creation, educational achievement, health outcomes.

He called on the assembly to "provide the solutions to all the issues that really matter to the people it serves" and not be "a vehicle for a never-ending conversation about more powers or the generator of some dull consensus that settles on mediocrity where funding is always deployed as the great national excuse for not achieving our potential".

Not once was he asked about powers and devolution by voters during the general election campaign, the Preseli Pembrokeshire MP said.

He said there was an "enormous" gulf between the concerns of voters and the priorities of the "Welsh commentariat".

Carwyn Jones welcomed the tone of Mr Crabb's speech to AMs

Mr Jones welcomed Mr Crabb's statement, saying it contrasted with the "river of sarcasm which often flowed our way from some of his predecessors".

And he welcomed the "bold and proper" use of the world parliament to describe the assembly.

Mr Jones repeated his call to replace the Barnett formula, which controls the size of the Welsh government's budget.

And the first minister said Cardiff Bay must not be presented with a "fait accompli" on devolution.

Welsh ministers should be included in a "proper discussion" about what powers are transferred to them, he said, including powers over policing - something the Tories oppose.

Analysis by Daniel Davies, BBC Wales political correspondent

Relations between the Welsh government and secretaries of state have, at times, been not so much frosty as frozen solid.

So Stephen Crabb came in peace, paying tribute to the growing role the assembly plays in Welsh life.

That role would be bolstered by a UK government commitment to deliver a new devolution settlement and further powers, he said.

It won't satisfy those in the Senedd chamber who say Wales isn't getting the power or money it deserves.

So Mr Crabb combined his promise with a prod to his political opponents, warning them that they could not go on blaming failures on inadequate funding from Westminster.