Rhys ab Owen: 5. Will the First Minister provide an update on the timetable for implementing the recommendations of the Commission on Justice in Wales report? OQ56523
Rhys ab Owen: I have declared an interest on this question.
Rhys ab Owen: Thank you for that response, First Minister. I do hope that we will see a more confirmed timetable as to how the Government intends to implement the recommendations relating to the Welsh Government. When I came here as a schoolboy in 1999 to the opening of the Assembly, I would never have imagined that I would be standing in the Welsh Parliament asking this question. We're very grateful to...
Rhys ab Owen: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. Last month's Senedd elections gave a clear and powerful mandate for the devolution of substantial further powers to this place, to Cardiff.
Rhys ab Owen: It's fair to say that Wales is at a crossroads in our development as a political nation. Little did I think as a schoolboy watching the first proceedings of the National Assembly for Wales in 1999 that I would be standing here as a Member of the Senedd, a powerhouse Parliament with primary legislative and tax-raising powers. It has been a remarkable journey—or a process, as some have termed...
Rhys ab Owen: The Welsh Government was elected on a manifesto pledge to fight for radical constitutional change. Well, may I say there is nothing radical in your amendment today? One could easily believe that we'd gone back in time to the beginning of the fifth Senedd, as we look at your amendment.
Rhys ab Owen: During the election campaign, the First Minister said this: 'We need home rule for Wales, more powers, a position where devolution cannot be pulled back by a whim of a prime minister.' Well, First Minister, well, Counsel General, today you have an opportunity to underpin those words with a proper plan based in statute. Now is the time to act, to deliver on the mandate of the people of Wales,...
Rhys ab Owen: As we slowly make our way to a post-COVID future, it's important that we take this opportunity to build a better Wales. We can't go back to how things were in the past. From the ruins of the second world war, a Labour Government showed the way—they transformed Britain for the better. We today in Wales must think radically once again, but this time, that will happen in Wales, not in Britain.
Rhys ab Owen: The coronavirus pandemic has shown that, when Wales takes the lead in public health matters, it is usually far more effective than following Westminster's lead. The Welsh Government, you are rightly proud of your vaccine programme, but now we need to create a justice system that we can equally be proud of. We need to create a welfare system that protects the most vulnerable in our society. We...
Rhys ab Owen: We must make legislation that is closely aligned to health and education and welfare services.
Rhys ab Owen: Should we really leave all these important matters to a party that wishes to slash the international aid budget? Really? Is that what we're asking the Welsh people to accept?
Rhys ab Owen: After over 20 years of devolution it makes no sense, does it, that justice is not devolved to this Senedd? If it's good enough for Scotland, if it's good enough for Northern Ireland, why isn't good enough for us here in Wales? Why don't we in this Senedd take responsibility for justice? But even if we put to one side that strange anomaly, that we have a legislature but we can't enact our...
Rhys ab Owen: Proper rehabilitation, an effective and compassionate victim charter and preventative work to sweep aside the root causes of crime. That's what our communities need. Sadly, all these principled aspirations will remain beyond our control until we have the means to make Welsh justice here in Wales. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, currently taking its legislative journey through...
Rhys ab Owen: There have been so many positive changes in our country as a result of protest, from the daughters of Rebecca to the Chartists, to Cymdeithas yr Iaith and, more recently, Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion. There is a supermajority in our Senedd in favour of enhanced powers. This is the perfect opportunity for us to support that, to support the motion, so that the Senedd and the...
Rhys ab Owen: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. May I first of all thank Darren Millar for his kind words?
Rhys ab Owen: It's a shame that he didn't stop after the kind words. Darren Millar mentioned that, in his maiden speech in 2007, the fire alarms went off—well, Darren, I'm sure that the alarm bells are going off in the union unit in Downing Street, because Wales is on the march and constitutional change will happen, whether you like it or not.
Rhys ab Owen: And let's hope that day comes quickly that we will have on the Conservative benches once again people who are willing to consider great constitutional issues, such as David Melding, Nick Bourne and Lisa Francis. Huw Irranca-Davies—I'm very pleased to hear you mention radical reform.
Rhys ab Owen: I was pleased to hear you talk about the relationship of equals. If so, why can't we state now the powers we want? We have the consensus. Why can't we start the process now? You say, by the way, that independence was rejected in the ballot paper. You should have a word with the Welsh Labour for indy lot about that, and the Wales Governance Centre, which had over 40 per cent of independence...
Rhys ab Owen: Sioned Williams told us that we don't want power for power's sake. This isn't some ego boost for the Senedd. We want powers in order to improve the lives of the people of Wales. Why shouldn't we devolve welfare to the same level as Scotland? Why can't we have consensus on this now? Why can't we ask for this now? The children of Wales, as Sioned Williams said, should not have to wait any...
Rhys ab Owen: They shouldn't be expected to wait to come out of poverty. James Evans—confusion about devolution. Well, it doesn't help that policing and justice isn't devolved in Wales, but it is everywhere else in the United Kingdom—policing devolved in Manchester, policing devolved in London. You're creating—you're creating—the confusion. And Heledd Fychan, my colleague, was completely right in...
