Cardiff - A Labour MP yesterday broke ranks to voice concern that the government's planned Welsh Assembly would have no power to dismantle undemocratic quangos.
Although at the general election Labour had pledged to make a "bonfire" of the Tory quangos, that promise had been broken, claimed Mr Denzil Davies, MP for Llanelli and a former Treasury minister.
"A Welsh Assembly would not take over the quangos. The Welsh budget will have to find the money not only to pay the costs of the Assembly, but also to pay the costs of administering the quangos which could have been run by the Assembly", he said.
Mr Davies was speaking before his party was effectively relaunching its referendum campaign following the suspension caused by mourning for the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.
In a statement, he said: "The Welsh Office has tried to mount a cosmetic exercise pretending that in future an assembly would be able to dismantle the quangos. The point is a false one. To dismantle the major quangos in Wales needs primary legislation. An Assembly would not have the power to do so. The Tory quango state would live on side by side with a Welsh assembly."
Opinion polls suggest that Wales will vote by a one to one majority for devolution on September 18th.