2. What discussions has the Counsel General held regarding the role of human rights in Welsh legislation? OAQ51334

Members will know that my advice is legally privileged. However, Members also know that the Human Rights Act 1998 is embedded as a fundamental element of the devolution settlement, through the Government of Wales Act 2006, and it consequently impacts on legislation made both by the Assembly and Welsh Ministers.

Thank you for that answer, Counsel General. Firstly, can I congratulate you, obviously, on your appointment as Counsel General, and wish you well in your work going forward?

We know that Wales has a proud record when it comes to embedding human rights in our legislation policies and our actions, but we face a number of uncertainties ahead as the UK negotiates to leave the European Union. Could you consider what further action the Welsh Government can take to make sure that human rights remain at the heart of Welsh law?

I thank the Member for that further question, and for her advocacy of human rights issues generally. As she will know, the human rights Act affects the Welsh Ministers and the Assembly in two very direct ways. Firstly, they are public authorities for the purposes of the Act, which means they can't act in a way incompatible with convention rights, and an Assembly Bill is outside legislative competence if it's incompatible with those rights. The Assembly has, on occasion, proactively legislated to reflect human rights, including in relation to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

She asks about the Welsh Government's position on this. The First Minister, in his advice to the House of Lords EU Select Committee in 2015, made it very clear, and it remains the Government's position, that it's fundamentally opposed to any previously proposed repeal of the human rights Act. The UK Government mentioned briefly that it was putting that question to one side whilst it became clearer what was happening in relation to EU withdrawal, but it indicated it would return to that question at that point. 

In the context of Brexit, which her question specifically refers to, the Welsh Government has been clear in its position that UK withdrawal from the EU should in no way lead to a dilution in human rights protections. For that reason, there's a concern that the EU withdrawal Bill makes provisions to stop the charter of fundamental rights of the EU having legal affect in the UK. The charter provides protections for human rights within the scope of EU law, and our consistent position is that a UK Bill should preserve that as part of the body of law derived from the UK that is to be given domestic effect on exit.

We should be proud of our advocacy of human rights in this place. We should be proud of the involvement of the UK in building the infrastructure of human rights internationally, and in particular the contribution that Welsh lawyers made in the establishment of the convention when it was brought into life.