War of words
And here it comes: the war of words I saw coming yesterday.
The First Minister has challenged the Secretary of State quite openly in a letter that insists a referendum in the Autumn is entirely possible and that "it is our understanding that the drafting work on the Order in Council to be laid before Parliament will have been substantially completed by the end of this month".
"We have expressed our strong preference for a referendum to be held in late October of this year" and guess what, suddenly there is a suggested question in both English and Welsh for the Secretary of State to consider.
This is the suggested question and the pre-amble:
"At the moment the Assembly can make laws about some, but not all, things which only affect people in Wales.
"Parliament has decided that the Assembly should be able to pass its own laws for Wales on all devolved subjects. But this can only happen if voters in Wales support this in a referendum.
"The devolved subjects include health and social services, housing, education and local government. The laws could not be about social security, defence or foreign affairs.
"Do you want the Assembly to have the power now to pass laws on all the subjects which are devolved to Wales?
YES
NO
Over to Gwydyr House.
UPDATE 12.45
From the former incumbent at Gwydyr House, Peter Hain:
"The preparatory work I ordered to be done as Secretary of State allowed this timetable to be met. Cheryl Gillan has no excuse to back track.
"Why is she still refusing to support the First Minister in achieving a successful referendum so that the Welsh Assembly can make its own laws for Wales in devolved areas?
"It's time for the Secretary of State to get off the fence. The public deserve to know if she will be supporting a 'Yes' vote or a 'No' vote in the referendum."
Plaid Cymru too are sticking to the line that an Autumn referendum is possible - and have introduced a new suggestion as to how it might be achieved: getting the Privy Council to meet later than their current schedule, which is to meet in July, in order to approve the referendum".
From Kirsty Williams and the Lib Dems: "What a difference a week makes. Labour and Plaid Cymru seem to have finally stopped stalling, having spent three-and-a-half years kicking this referendum into touch".
A response from Gwydyr House when we have one.
UPDATE
And here it is:
"The Secretary of State received the letter from the First Minister this morning. She is continuing work to progress a referendum and was already due to meet with the Electoral Commission and host a series of consultation meetings to discuss the referendum in Cardiff on Monday."
is rather snappier. Nick Bourne's take on things is .
I'm Betsan Powys, Ö÷²¥´óÐã Wales' political editor. I'll be blogging the inside track on .
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