Wales Office scrapped

Peter Hain has become the last Secretary of State for Wales

The Wales Office is to be abolished, the Government has announced.

Peter Hain becomes leader of the House of Commons but keeps the title of Welsh Secretary and will continue to speak on Welsh affairs.

The Scotland Office will also be scrapped as part of Tony Blair's reshuffle, with responsibility for Welsh and Scottish affairs at Westminster taken over by the new Department of Constitutional Affairs.

The Conservatives immediately condemned the decision.

Welsh Tory leader Nick Bourne said the move was "a disaster".

"Wales needs direct representations in the Westminster Cabinet, under any governing political party, not a diluted attempt to kick Welsh interests on a national level into the long grass," he said.

"We in Wales, and indeed Scotland, not only deserve individual representations at the cabinet in Westminster, we have a fundamental right to have this," he added.

'Regrettable'

A Plaid Cymru spokesman said the decision was "very regrettable".

"This means the voice of Wales will not be heard as clearly in Parliament," he said.

Lord Falconer's new department will look after Welsh affairs

Lord Falconer of Thoroton who becomes head of a new department for constitutional affairs which incorporates the Scottish and Welsh Offices is a long-time friend of Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Scottish Secretary Helen Liddell has asked to retire from government, the Prime Minister's spokesman said.

Mr Hain had been Welsh Secretary for only eight months.

Transport Secretary Alistair Darling will represent Scotland in the Commons.

Ministers were called to a cabinet meeting at 1030 BST on Thursday, but the immediate aftermath was dominated by the surprise resignation of Health Secretary Alan Milburn.

Before the reshuffle took place, 15 Welsh Labour MPs - more than half the Labour backbenchers in Wales - signed a Commons motion urging Tony Blair to keep a Secretary of State for Wales in his cabinet.

Before the last general election in 2001, Mr Blair said he planned to keep Welsh and Scottish roles in his cabinet.

In the Commons motion, the 15 MPs, who included Cardiff West MP Kevin Brennan, Aberavon's Hywel Francis and Newport West's Paul Flynn, said: "The Secretary of State for Wales performs a vital role in the government of the United Kingdom and this office should be retained as an individual cabinet post as envisaged in the Government of Wales Act 1998."