Mr Kennedy argued that for the moment, winning the argument for the principle of PR was more important than deciding on which of the various systems was chosen.
Labour health spokesperson Jackie Baillie said there was no argument about the principle of the government's policy but it would be tested on how it was delivered on the ground.
He thinks people can be persuaded to support projects such as the abolition of duty-free shopping with the argument that such things are right in principle.
It is an argument based on market-timing, rather than on the principle that bad things happen when the government has a stake in the outcome of a race that it can influence.
However the chair Mike German, said that the argument was not what the Assembly would do with the powers, but the principle of whether they should have the powers at all.