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Whatever happened to the Assembly Government's bid for powers to deal with housing - in particular the supply for affordable housing - in Wales?

Ah, I bet you never thought you'd be glad to see me returning to the world of Legislative Competence Orders. You'll have missed those regular posts I know but as I press the 'publish' button, I wonder whether I can dare to hope there'll be relief that you're being offered a break from 'gravy-train' stories and even an audible sigh of "Ah LCO!" from those of you who check in every day.

Let's recap.

The Assembly voted in favour of an LCO that would give future governments the power to bring in any number of measures designed to improve the supply of affordable houses in Wales. The Assembly government duly pitched to Westminster for those powers, including the specific power to abolish the right-to-buy option for council house tenants, though this government had no intention of doing any more than suspending it in areas of particular housing pressure.

In Westminster the Welsh Affairs Select Committee wondered why they'd asked for more powers than they wanted. Why not simply ask for the powers they actually intended to put to use?

Cue , now member of the Welsh Affairs Committee. Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas pointed a finger at "some" MPs who were "acting contrary to the spirit of devolution". Alun Michael questioned the Presiding Officer's right to comment at all, given he "should be above political debate between parties".

The deadlock is broken by the suggestion - from a Plaid Cymru Special Adviser - that a clause is inserted, that old favourite that gives the Welsh Secretary the right to intervene. He or she would effectively have a veto on any plan to abolish the right-to-buy option. Both Rhodri Morgan and Ieuan Wyn Jones face the lobby, roll their eyes when the inevitable 'veto' question comes and deny it's any such thing ... with very little conviction.

Soon a queue forms to question the whole principle of a veto. , in anticipation of a challenge to the legality of the LCO in the House of Lords.

The final nail is driven into the coffin by the Joint Comittee on Statutory Instruments - half a dozen members from the House of Lords, half a dozen from the Commons - who take a good look at the LCO and They conclude there's some doubt whether the LCO as it stands would be within the law - or as they put it "there appears to be a doubt in one respect that, if it were approved and made, it would be intra vires".

That's it. Kibosh.

Members of the Welsh Affairs Select Committee point out it was never their idea (by inference, 'daft idea') to suggest a veto in the first place. They're right. That idea came from a Plaid Special Adviser. Hang on, comes the response. Had MPs not very carefully placed the LCO between that rock over here and that really hard place over there, we wouldn't have had to come up with the idea (by inference, 'daft idea') in the first place, would we?

And that's where we were.

Headlines? Damaging.
Goodwill? Strained.
Public interest? Minimal.
M4? Feeling longer than ever.
Housing? Ah yes ... the supply of affordable housing.

I'd started to wonder, out loud, whether the bid for power to deal with housing pressures was dead? It turns out that it is, in fact, just stunned, just restin' and pining for the whatever is the civil service equivalent of the fjords.

There is, I'm told, "a third way".

There is a clever way of approaching the same problem but by "coming at it from a different direction", all sides in this particular argument should be happy. "Willy waving "as one MP so memorably put it, over and double quick. Unless this LCO gets its skates on and goes through the scrutiny process before Gordon Brown calls an election, it'll be back to square one.

By the way what about the talks about the Welsh Language LCO? A joint meeting of AMs and MPs scrutinising it held earlier this week was described as "pleasant". Both sides are learning from each other's questions. One stunned AM got the impression that while there will be plenty of amendments, the Assembly may even find itself with more powers over the language than it had ever dared hope, or ask for.

Too good to be true, surely, they wonder. And to whom do we listen? To the chair of the Welsh Affairs Select Committee, Hywel Francis, who is clearly determined this time to make the process run as smoothly and as effectively as possible? Or to some of the senior noises off who worry about concerns voiced by parts of the business community in Wales and talk of curbing and serious redrafting?

The Culture Minister takes the line that he "must believe" that things are on track.

And there you have it. Two LCO-updates for the price of one. A bargain - and a pledge to leave off the subject for a while now.

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