Part of 1. 1. Questions to the Counsel General – in the Senedd at 1:45 pm on 18 January 2017.
Well, could I firstly thank the Member for his comments? I perhaps differ from him to some extent because it is absolutely awful that we’ve had to spend £84,000 on the case. It was absolutely right that we were in court in the most important constitutional case for 300 years, but I think it was totally wrong that the UK Government, on an issue of establishing a royal prerogative to bypass Parliament, should have actually appealed the High Court decision and actually incurred not only the cost that we had to incur, but also the cost that had to be incurred then by Northern Ireland and by Scotland. And, of course, no wonder the UK Government, six times, has refused to disclose the considerable amount that it has probably expended as well. But in terms of our position, I believe that we were absolutely right: we would have let the people of Wales down if we had not had a Welsh voice.
In terms of the importance of what may happen, if the judgment upholds the High Court decision, which requires legislation, what that does then—it gives an opportunity for further engagement through Sewel, engagement with the Parliamentary process, which is what Sewel establishes, and we can look, within our working practice, at achieving an objective that whatever legislation is brought forward to trigger article 50, it also includes within it a duty of engagement and consultation with devolved, and I would even say regional Government, to ensure that there is a proper voice of the people in the actual deals that are being done that will affect people’s jobs and lives, and the investment in our country.