Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I am pleased to open this debate on behalf of both the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee and the External Affairs and Additional Legislation Committee. I believe this is the first time that such a joint committee debate has taken place. I think that indicates the importance of the issues we are here to discuss. It is important that we continue to set the bar high in Wales for protecting human rights and reducing inequalities. Before going further, I would like to thank all those who contributed to both committees on these important matters.

I think it is worth setting this debate in the broader context. In Wales, we have a proud history of protecting equality and human rights in innovative ways, such as passing the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011, a piece of legislation that leads the way across the UK and, indeed, the world. Our committees have been considering the impact of Brexit on equalities and human rights over the past 18 months. This culminated in our joint letter to the First Minister earlier this year, in which we called for the protection of rights under the EU charter of fundamental rights to continue after Brexit; the proposed UK shared prosperity fund to be administered by the Welsh Government to help take account of local needs and inequalities; greater clarity as to whether the socioeconomic duty under the Equalities Act 2010 will be commenced by the Welsh Government; existing rights to be protected, and a commitment to no regression in rights; for Wales to remain a world leader in human rights and equalities—in particular, our committee has repeatedly called for a formal mechanism to track future human rights and equalities developments to ensure this happens—and that the community cohesion plan is updated before summer 2018, which, obviously, has now gone, to take account of recent issues in hate crime.

I will now turn to each of these issues in more detail. The EU charter of fundamental rights incorporates rights beyond those in domestic legislation, such as the Human Rights Act 1998, in particular in relation to social and economic rights, which currently are not well-recognised in UK law. The Welsh Government’s Law Derived from the European Union (Wales) Bill included a requirement for EU-derived Welsh law to be interpreted in line with charter rights. This would have provided some limited protection for charter rights in Wales. However, the Welsh Government has now committed to take steps to repeal this legislation. We are unconvinced by the UK Government’s analysis that charter rights are already protected by domestic law. Our view was shaped by the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s legal advice that stated the charter rights went beyond protections currently provided for in UK law.