Wales Bill

Lord Wigley Excerpts

Monday 7th November 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Crickhowell]

My Lords, for 17 years I was the Member of Parliament for Pembroke and I had very detailed and involved discussions—and sometimes arguments—with the trust board at Milford Haven. Undoubtedly it is a strategic port. Gas imports are important, and the port’s position at the end of the oil pipeline that conveys the gas to the rest of Britain is clearly of great significance. However, from time to time I had profound disagreements with the port authorities, not least on safety matters, and I frequently urged the UK Government to interfere and take action, which on a number of occasions they were reluctant to do. The Welsh Government might be more likely to give attention to those concerns than the UK Government.

I remain completely open-minded on this issue. As I said, I understand the strategic significance but, on the face of it and on the basis of my experience, I am not entirely convinced that the job could not be done by the Government of Wales. Therefore, I will listen with considerable interest to the case made by my noble friend. I am quite prepared to be persuaded, but I think that a legitimate case is being advanced here and we need to know the exact reasons for the Government’s decision.

[Lord Wigley (PC)]

My Lords, I shall be brief. It strikes me that it is for the Government to make the case for Milford Haven being an exception. The natural position would be for it to be within the competence of the Welsh Government and Assembly, and a case for it needs to be made—a case that I have not yet heard.

I support the points about Milford Haven made by the noble Baroness, Lady Morgan of Ely. As she said, it handles 62% of all the liquid natural gas, but it has had other strategic existences in the past and it may well do so in the future. At one point it had a strategic position in regard to fishing due to its deep-water facility. At the time, there was the possibility of Celtic oil off the Pembrokeshire coast. In that context, Milford Haven would have been important to the economic development of the area. Therefore, taking out what should be a focus for possible future growth in Pembrokeshire seems perverse, and a strong case needs to be made for allowing that to happen.

On coastguards, many other services in Wales come under the National Assembly—one thinks of the ambulance service, for example. One would have thought that the coastguard facility would naturally have the same sorts of conflicts. Again, I would be interested to hear the Government’s case.

[Lord Thomas of Gresford]

My Lords, Milford Haven is at the other end of Wales from me and I have never been there. However, I am very familiar with Aberdeen Harbour, having on a number of occasions rowed upstream from there as far as the main road bridge, and I have fished in the river very frequently.

There are differences and I can assist the Minister to this extent: I do not believe that oil or gas is discharged in Aberdeen Harbour, as it is in Milford Haven. However, that makes my point. It seems to me that the Welsh Government would control the standards and risks of pollution at Milford Haven in a much more hands-on way than could ever be the case in Westminster. The Minister should explain why such a distinction is made between Milford Haven and the other ports in Wales.