2. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:40 pm on 5 June 2018.

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Photo of Bethan Sayed Bethan Sayed Plaid Cymru 2:40, 5 June 2018

Over recess, we saw the company Lush come out to support the Spy Cops campaign, which is a campaign to uncover the fact that many police officers, emanating from the 1980s to this day, were infiltrating campaign groups here in Wales and across the UK, impregnating women and having sexual relationships with women without them knowing that this was the case. Now, I wanted to understand what the Welsh Government's view is on this and whether you support me in expanding the inquiry to the rest of the UK—I understand that there is a judicial review to try and involve Northern Ireland—and also to expand the public inquiry to full disclosure. Because, at the moment, we simply do not know the extent to which this has affected Welsh life. I know that there are campaigners called 'Lisa Jones' and 'Deborah'—these are false names to protect their anonymity—who have had severe problems on a personal level as a result of these relationships with police officers. Now, this campaign is not to try and undermine the whole of the police force, and I think that needs to be made clear. But I also think that the most important issue here is that women's lives have been severely violated, and we should all be concerned about this and about, potentially, the news that we currently do not know about some Welsh stories in this regard. So, I would welcome a statement from Welsh Government to give support to those women who have been affected and support to the campaign.