Tussle over emergency control

Would Wales or Westminster take the lead in a crisis?

Governments in Westminster and Cardiff are fighting over who should take control of emergencies which happen in Wales, according to a new report.

First Minister Rhodri Morgan has said it would be hard to imagine how an emergency would be handled unless his government took the lead role.

But a parliamentary committee says the UK Government is resisting the Welsh request.

The MPs and peers on the joint Lords and Commons committee also say there are potentially dangerous flaws in the Westminster Government's plans to improve the response to a terrorist attack.

The finger of Welsh public opinion points to us... "what is that assembly for if it is not to solve this crisis? Rhodri Morgan's evidence to MPs and peers

The committee has spent months considering a draft version of the Civil Contingencies Bill.

Its report says proposals to give police sweeping new powers in an emergency could threaten civil liberties and be abused by the wrong people.

The committee also says the assembly would be consulted in an emergency in Wales, unless action was urgently needed.

Wednesday's Queen's Speech revealed that a formal Civil Contingencies Bill will be presented to Parliament in this session and that it will have specifically Welsh clauses.

In his evidence to the scrutiny committee, Mr Morgan said that "operationally, it is very hard to imagine how an emergency would be handled in Wales without the Welsh assembly and our Governmental institutions having the lead role.

"Our experience is that, after devolution it is not a matter of what the law says, it is a matter of public expectation... because the finger of Welsh public opinion points to us.

"What is that assembly for if it is not to solve this crisis?" he told committee members.

The committee recommended that regulations made by the UK Government without consultation should have a 21-day time limit to allow talks to take place with the assembly government.