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Welsh assembly needs 'sense of purpose', Crabb says | |
(35 minutes later) | |
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 "fundamentally re-wiring the devolution settlement for Wales, to make it clearer, stronger and fairer". | |
But he 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. | 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' | '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 achieve 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". | |