May I thank the Counsel General for his statement, welcome the aim and enthusiastically support this proposal to consolidate and codify Welsh law? There is a huge need to simplify our law and to make it easier for people to understand legislation in one place at one time, because that’s essentially what we’re talking about here. Of course, we’re quoting Aristotle here, but I would also return to our own Welsh history, and the laws of Hywel Dda—Hywel the Good—back in 962. We did have Welsh law at that time and, naturally, which was perhaps simpler than the law that we’re dealing with today. I don’t think that Hywel Dda, perhaps, had actually considered the need to codify and consolidate law then, but he was an innovator, and these were the first pieces of legislation in this nation that looked after the interests of women, for example. Hywel Dda was an innovator, and I’d like to think that we too could innovate, as you have said, as a young Assembly, in these issues of making law.

At the end of the day, it’s important that any piece of legislation can be read in one place, and that it’s accessible to all. That doesn’t happen at the moment, and, of course, you need a degree in law to tackle that. As you’ve already mentioned, at a time when people can’t afford a lawyer and represent themselves in court, we have to have that general capacity to read legislation without the need for a degree in that particular area. So, I warmly welcome the intention to make it easier to deal with the law and to codify what we have. As you’ve already said, there’s a whole host of legislation, and it can take over whole buildings. That’s not going to assist us in actually making law accessible.

There are a few questions, of course. We do make Welsh law now. There are a number of pieces of legislation in education and health in Wales that are significantly different now since devolution. Of course, they don’t fall easily into the ‘England and Wales’ definition that you mentioned. So, we have been making Welsh law—a number of pieces of law since devolution, and particularly more recently—not just in terms of health and education, but there was also the innovative organ donation legislation—the first example in these isles of such legislation. So, we can build on that innovation and not just innovate in terms of our proposals for legislation, but be innovative in how we make and deal with that legislation.

Of course, we have a problem or a challenge in the absence of a single legal jurisdiction for Wales. We share a jurisdiction with England. I would like to ask, with all of this talk about the Wales Bill, what specific discussions the Counsel General has had in order to tackle this problem. Things would be far clearer, of course, if we did have a single legal jurisdiction for Wales. It would be far easier—it would also be far easier if the police and courts and so on were devolved to Wales and that had happened already, as has happened in the other nations of the UK, and in Manchester. What is wrong with us? What is wrong with the Welsh? In the face of the challenge of losing some powers as a result of the Wales Bill, I would like to know more about the role of the Counsel General in pushing for a single legal jurisdiction for Wales, which would make things easier, as I’ve said, and not actually losing sight of the need to devolve policing and the courts here to Wales. That, too, would make things far simpler, because we do make legislation in this place.

Now, you mention possible difficulties relating to Europe and leaving the European Union. Naturally, there are a number of factors to be taken into account there, but what we don’t want to see is powers being lost. We expect to see legislation relating to Wales being repatriated to Wales, and I would like an assurance, in all of these discussions, that we are not going to actually lose that legislation that is pertinent and relevant to us here in Wales. Now, naturally, as part of that, we could codify and make it all part of this consolidation and codification, but, more importantly, we don’t want to see any powers lost in those areas of European legislation that are pertinent to us in Wales.

There is a Welsh dimension, as you’ve already mentioned, and there is also a Welsh language dimension. We have been developing subordinate legislation and primary legislation bilingually here since the inception of the Assembly, and, of course, the Counsel General will be aware that the one language isn’t a pure translation of the other—there is an element of interpretation, too. And, of course, as we develop that legal expertise in the Welsh language, we also need to develop the expertise to interpret and to ensure that what is stated in one language is fully transferred in the other, and that is a matter of interpretation, not just a matter of pure translation. Let’s not forget that, as we seek to codify our law.

As you say here, it is a significant challenge, and you quote:

mae taith o 1,000 o filltiroedd yn dechrau gydag un cam bach.

Now, in Welsh, there is a saying that ‘deuparth gwaith ei ddechrau’.

Dwy ran o dair o'r gwaith mewn gwirionedd yw dechrau arno.

Therefore, I wish you the best of luck in this innovative work. Thank you.