I declare an interest as a county councillor. I won't be supporting this legislation. In Catalunya, they do politics by judiciary—the unionists, that is. And in Labour Wales, we have politics by tribunal. The abuses of the system are actually very similar in principle. I feel we have an ombudsman system lacking in integrity, lacking in accountability of the ombudsman himself, who uses gagging orders, refuses to disclose e-mails and operates with a basic lack of fairness and a lack of transparency.

I want to give you an example of a confidential investigation by the ombudsman, and the person who was confidentially being investigated received a phone call and text messages from a serving Member of this Assembly after discussing the case with the ombudsman. Now, I know that's true because the person was me. I got the text messages; I had the call; I had the discussion and was warned not to take on the ombudsman. I was told I couldn't win, and I think that, with hindsight, in a factual sense, that was correct but morally completely wrong. When there was a tribunal—and I'm talking about the fairness of the system here—I was not allowed to present those text messages as evidence of a lack of transparency, a lack of fairness in the system. The local government ombudsman in Wales is used as a political weapon to stamp out the sense, to stop questions being asked, and it's a way of trying to exert control over politicians. I will oppose this legislation because this office of the ombudsman—and some people may not want to hear this, looking at the reactions around the room—this office of the ombudsman is used in a highly undemocratic way, and I will not support this legislation.