I'm pleased to speak today as the Chair of the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee. We have been considering the human rights implications of leaving the European Union over the past year. In December, we outlined a number of core principles that we identified. Our overriding priority is that there is no regression in equality and human rights protections once we have left the European Union. We called for the charter of fundamental rights to be preserved in some form after withdrawal, and note the Equality and Human Rights Commission's legal analysis, published earlier this year, which refuted the UK Government's claim that all charter rights are already protected by UK domestic law. Therefore, Llywydd, I am pleased to see the inclusion of section 7 in the Bill before us today, requiring EU derived Welsh law to be interpreted in line with the charter of fundamental rights. It is also important to us that as well as preserving the rights that currently exist, Wales continues to be a global leader and that the level of protections continue to keep pace with developments across the EU after we have left. We called for a formal mechanism to track future developments in human rights and equality in the EU to ensure Welsh citizens benefit from the same levels of protections as EU citizens. I'm therefore pleased to see the inclusion of Section 11 in this Bill, which would allow Welsh Ministers to make regulations introducing new legislation, or to modify existing legislation, to enable Wales to keep pace with any new EU legislation following our departure.

Further, Llywydd, we would call on the Welsh Government to use all available levers to ensure continued protection of equality and human rights in Wales, including considering commencing the duty in the Equality Act 2010, which requires public bodies to make decisions in a way that tackles the inequalities arising from socioeconomic disadvantage, and looks to incorporate international human rights treaties into Welsh law. As we are all aware, this was successfully achieved with the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011.

Llywydd, I am pleased that the Welsh Government has used this Bill to help provide protection of equality and human rights. Going forward, as a committee, we will continue to follow keenly this element of the negotiations and withdrawal process. Diolch yn fawr.