Rhys ab Owen: Sorry, let me get it. Sorry, I hadn't appreciated I had the third question.
Rhys ab Owen: Sorry.
Rhys ab Owen: 3. Will the Counsel General make a statement on the timetable for the implementation of the recommendations of the Law Commission's 'Devolved Tribunals in Wales Report'? OQ57414
Rhys ab Owen: Thank you very much, Counsel General. I see these recommendations, such as establishing an appeals tribunal, as a very important step in developing the justice system here in Wales. Perhaps it's not given much coverage publicly, but I do think there is huge importance to this. In my view, through the Welsh tribunals, we have a foundation to build a fair and just justice system here in Wales....
Rhys ab Owen: 7. What discussions has the Counsel General had with UK Government law officers about the impact of the proposed reform to the Human Rights Act on Welsh law? OQ57419
Rhys ab Owen: Diolch yn fawr, Cwnsler Cyffredinol. Obviously, from the answer you gave to Rhianon Passmore and everything else you've done over the years, you clearly agree with me that any changes to fundamental rights, like the Human Rights Act, should always be met with real caution. They form the basis of individual and collective rights within our liberal democracy. We should be adding to them, not...
Rhys ab Owen: —won in a referendum in 1997, a right that was affirmed in a second referendum in 2011, and confirmed in 2021 when the abolishers were totally rejected at the ballot box. What can you do as Counsel General, and what can all of us do from every party, every Member of this Senedd, to protect the rights of the people of Wales? Diolch yn fawr.
Rhys ab Owen: Prif Weinidog, I was also glad, like you and Mr Skates, to read the review of inter-governmental relations last week, and the setting up of independent dispute resolution. As we know, such a process is needed to effectively combat a Westminster Government that is legislating time and time again within devolved areas, but also restricting the rights of the people of Wales to protest, to vote,...
Rhys ab Owen: Llywydd, I'm very grateful to the Counsel General for this important statement in an area that is not devolved to Wales, but it does show how serious the Government is in dealing with the huge problems that the people of our nations are currently facing. It's not overstatement to say that the people of Wales have been cruelly hit by the merciless austerity policy of the Tory and Liberal...
Rhys ab Owen: Counsel General, we both know from our legal careers of the close link between social justice and the justice system, so I'm pleased to see the joint statement between you and the social justice Minister. Factors such as poverty, health inequalities and social disadvantage play a huge role in one's relationship with the justice system. Do you agree, therefore, that the devolution of justice,...
Rhys ab Owen: Minister, last week, my team arranged a very interesting meeting between the residents of Gwaelod-y-garth in north-west Cardiff and Rod King—I'm sure you're familiar with him—an expert on road safety and the founder of 20's Plenty for Us. Now, Mr King was full of praise for the road-safety policies of the Welsh Government, but one point he made was that drivers needed to be more aware of...
Rhys ab Owen: 7. What steps is the Welsh Government taking to make the Welsh language as accessible as possible in Cardiff? OQ57508
Rhys ab Owen: Thank you very much. As a son of the capital city, it's been wonderful to see the growth in the use of the Welsh language and to hear the Welsh language around me as I walk the streets of the capital. As you said, one of the highlights of the social calendar in Cardiff is the Tafwyl festival, and it was a great loss that it wasn't staged during the first year of the pandemic. It was wonderful...
Rhys ab Owen: Thank you very much, Deputy Llywydd. From the Chartists to the Suffragettes, people have literally given their lives to ensure that we have the right to vote on these islands, and, across the centuries, the great battle was to gain more rights, and that happened again recently in Wales as we extended the franchise to young people of 16 and 17 years old. Any attempt to limit the right to vote...
Rhys ab Owen: Voting is the foundation of our democracy, Dirprwy Lywydd. It's where extraordinary possibilities become reality through a mere cross in a box. It has led to the foundation of the national health service, the creation of the welfare state and the establishment of our national parliament, our Senedd. The ballot box is where dreams and aspirations do come true. It's where decisions about the...
Rhys ab Owen: We need very detailed scrutiny before any limitations on the right to vote are introduced, such as the introduction of ID. You need robust evidence that is properly analysed. Certainly, there's no place for ideology in influencing any decisions. The Conservatives will seek to portray this as a reasonable decision, but, in speaking to a jury in a court of law, I would always tell them to look...
Rhys ab Owen: Look at the evidence as a whole, at the Tory Government's action on the whole. They want to restrict protest, they want to strip people of citizenship without providing any justification. They want to stop our courts from quashing secondary legislation that is incompatible with human rights. They want to tackle so-called 'rights inflation'—that's too much human rights, to you and me. They...
Rhys ab Owen: The Conservative Members here can shake their heads as much as they like. You can argue that the aim of Boris Johnson and his crew is to protect democracy, but I very much hope that you have enough sense and integrity to realise how unnecessary the introduction of voter ID is. The cases of voter fraud are so small.
Rhys ab Owen: One conviction of voter impersonation in 2017; zero in 2018; none in 2019. They are willing to disenfranchise millions of our own citizens, their own voters, to stop one account of voter fraud. If ever the overused adage of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut is true, it's true in this case. There is no justification at all for this heavy-handed response. The Conservatives will sit here,...
Rhys ab Owen: Or, to use the words of Gerallt Lloyd Owen, 'a man who never caught the tide.'
