Part of 2. 2. Questions to the Counsel General – in the Senedd at 2:41 pm on 11 October 2017.
I thank the Counsel General for that answer. I know it’s the ambition of the Welsh Government to have a separate justice system in Wales. Wales has been incorporated into a fused jurisdiction for 600 years, and its history is very different, therefore, from Scotland and Ireland, including Northern Ireland. And, whilst there may come a time when there are significant divergences between the law as it applies in Wales and in England, we’re a very long way from that as yet, and therefore it would be important, if we’re going to keep the costs of the law in proportion, to proceed slowly in this respect. And in particular insofar as the regulation of the legal profession is concerned, does the Counsel General agree with me that it is certainly premature to think of splitting off the regulation of solicitors or members of the Bar—and I declare an interest as a member of the Bar myself, in this respect—from the one that currently exists in the jurisdiction of England and Wales?