Language gets jammed in a legal tangle

Almost every time Carwyn Jones opens his mouth, the delays to the proposed new, stronger legal status for the Welsh language get longer.

A new Legislative Competence Order was expected to be introduced to the Assembly this spring, we were told before Christmas.

We all knew the procedures for passing these LCOs was complicated – they are debated in Cardiff, and then shunted to London for further debate and approval; they will then be passed back to Cardiff (possibly in amended form); published in draft form; sent out for consultation; debated once more, this time in detail, in Cardiff; once voted into legislation, a copy is sent to Windsor for Frau Saxe-Coburg-Gotha’s second signature; after which, those who disobey can expect a visit from the Men in Blue.

Carwyn Jones was this week reasonably happy that such a new and tricky procedure was running as well as could be expected.

But what about the language LCO, which was one of the first to be revealed, close on a year ago ?

Latest deadline is July, said Mr Jones. Except it might be September or October. No-one asked which year he was speaking of.

The trouble appears to have been happening in the first stage of the LCO procedure. That stage is not mentioned above, because it’s not in the Government of Wales Act. But a real row ensued when an early LCO missed it out.

Job number one in preparing any LCO on its path via London is talks between the Assembly and Whitehall (usually, the Wales Office). We are told there is no problem regarding the Welsh language in these talks, because they are “ongoing”. The problem seems to lie in Cardiff, and that includes “what is in the LCO”.

Problems, perhaps, as well, “in the Government” – ie between Plaid enthusiasts and Labour sceptics? Oh, no. In any case, “we have agreed on the LCO and we have written to the Wales Office,” said Mr Jones.

Seems to me a classic case a series of deep disagreements.

Just wait until some of the more backwoods-minded Tories get their hatchets out when they catch site of the precise wordings. We’ll then see precisely how far the party’s newly-found love of the Welsh language extends.