Minister: Nobody on doorstep talks of Barnett formula

Lord Bourne: "Nobody on the doorsteps talks about reserved powers or the Barnett formula....they certainly talk about funding for Wales."

You wait months for a House of Lords debate on Welsh devolution - and then two come along at once.

Hot on the heels of last Thursday's debate led by Lord Wigley, Liberal Democrat former Wales Office Minister Lady Randerson led last night's debate on the National Assembly for Wales elections 2016.

Lady Randerson demanded "fair funding" for Wales - a phrase endorsed by almost every political party in the recent general election - but accepted that Wales is not currently under-funded.

She warned: "The issue of funding has had a corrosive effect on Welsh politics. The perception of unfairness in funding for Wales strikes a much stronger political chord with electors than the issue of more assembly powers, for example."

Lady Randerson said the proposed "funding floor" should be included in the Welsh Bill expected in draft form later this year. Replying for the government, her successor as Wales Office Minister Lord Bourne didn't rule out putting the floor in legislation but pointed out that the Barnett formula had survived decades without being included in law.

He did suggest it remained the government's view that "the funding floor needs to go hand in hand with some commitment to a referendum" on income tax powers from the Welsh government.

The Lords may be unelected but that doesn't mean they don't get involved in elections. Lord Bourne told peers: "As we well know from the recent general election—and as we will see, I am sure, in the assembly election in the same way—nobody on the doorsteps talks about reserved powers or the Barnett formula."

I could think of a few doorsteps where they talk of little else but I wouldn't claim they were representative.

Lord Bourne added: "They certainly talk about funding for Wales, but the issues that they really talk about and that really matter to them, as they matter to us, are education, health, the economy, transport, agriculture, tourism and so on."

The Conservative peer also offered to run the election campaign of Baroness [Eluned] Morgan of Ely, who hopes to stand for Labour in next year's elections.

Incidentally, are there many longer job titles than Lord Bourne's? "The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change and Wales Office (Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth) (Con)" takes up almost a line and a half of Hansard.