Bill to devolve Crown Estate to Wales passes report stage in House of Lords without opposition

Emily Price

A Bill that would transfer responsibility for the Crown Estate in Wales to the Welsh Government has passed the report stage in the House of Lords without opposition and is now set for its third reading.

The Crown Estate (Devolution to Wales) Bill, introduced by Plaid Cymru peer Dafydd Wigley, seeks to ensure that Welsh natural resources are managed from Wales for the benefit of Welsh people.

The Crown Estate is a huge collection of assets owned by the British monarchy, which includes vast swathes of urban, coastal and maritime land worth £16 billion.

It is run as a business, independent of government, but its profits are delivered to the UK Treasury each year.

An annual payment is also made to the monarch in the form of the Sovereign Grant, currently set at 12% of the total.

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Benefit

Plaid's new Bill draws on the precedent set by the UK Government in devolving the Crown Estate to Scotland via the Scotland Act 2016.

In 2023–24, Scotland benefited by £113 million in revenue from its devolved Crown Estate.

In contrast, the Crown Estate in Wales remains reserved to Westminster, and the Welsh Government receives no such direct benefit.

During the debate on the Bill’s Committee stage, Lord Wigley highlighted the overwhelming political and civic support for the move.

Devolving Crown Estate powers has been the official stance of Labour ministers in Wales for some time.

Over the last year, all of Wales’s 22 local authorities across a range of political parties have passed resolutions calling for the devolution of the Crown Estate.

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Blocked

Plaid Cymru has urged the UK Government to support Lord Wigley's Bill when it returns to the House of Lords for its third reading after the summer recess, which would then allow it to be transferred to the House of Commons.

In February, Labour MPs voted down an amendment to the UK Government's Crown Estate Bill which would have seen the Crown Estate powers devolved to Wales within two years of the commencement of the Act.

Dafydd Wigley said: "Wales has a history of exploitation of our natural resources, whether it is coal or other minerals, or our water resources, on which Birmingham and London now increasingly depend.

"We likewise see the exploitation of our energy potential – wave, sea currents, estuarial waters and wind on shore and in the seas around our coast.

"My Plaid Cymru colleagues and I want to see the maximum possible benefit from such projects coming into the Welsh economy.

"We want to see that happen in a planned manner that recognises the financial benefit that should rightly come to those who invest in such projects, but also to the communities in which they are based.

"Given this Bill has passed its report stage unopposed in the Lords, given the unanimous support of all Welsh councils towards the principle of the Bill, as well as the support of the Welsh Government, the UK Government should reflect on this issue and support my Bill when it returns for its third reading after the summer recess, and subsequently when it comes to the Commons, to make time available for MPs to discuss it further."

'Momentum'

Plaid's energy spokesperson, Llinos Medi, said the new Bill gave "new momentum" to her party's campaign.

She said: "The passing of this Bill’s Report Stage in the House of Lords gives new momentum to the campaign to devolve the Crown Estate.

"Combined with the unanimous support across all Welsh councils, it’s clear that the UK Government must now reconsider its stance.

"The UK Government can no longer justify keeping these powers in Westminster. If Scotland can control its own natural resources, then Wales deserves nothing less.

"This is about fairness, accountability, and empowering Welsh communities to shape their own future."