Murphy dampens referendum thoughts

Jan 29 2008 by David Williamson, Western Mail

A REFERENDUM on a Welsh parliament is unlikely to occur before the next Assembly elections, new Welsh secretary Paul Murphy said yesterday.

Working towards a vote on the issue is a key plank of the One Wales pact which united Labour and Plaid Cymru in coalition last year – a deal opposed by Mr Murphy.

Asked if he shared his predecessor Peter Hain’s belief that a vote would not be held during this Assembly term, he said, “Yes I do. I think that timescale as such, I personally feel it’s unlikely. But that’s just a personal view – it’s not written in stone.”

Speaking on his first visit to the Assembly since being given the post last week, Mr Murphy denied his views on the One Wales government would be an obstacle to progress.

He said, “You can see we’re not exactly at each other’s throats here, nor are we likely to be. But we had different views at the time. My view was I thought the Labour Party should be a minority government. Rhodri’s view was different, that that couldn’t be sustained, that there had to be a coalition – but the argument’s finished.

“When you know someone so well as I know Rhodri you know that if there are going to be issues in the future – undoubtedly there will be, as there were in the past – we’ll be able to sort those issues out in a friendly way.”

Addressing reporters on the steps of the Senedd, Mr Morgan and Mr Murphy pledged to soothe relations between London and Cardiff, including improving relations between Labour MPs and AMs.