Part of 2. Questions to the Counsel General and Brexit Minister (in respect of his 'law officer' responsibilities) – in the Senedd at 2:43 pm on 15 October 2019.
Both the Counsel General and I, of course, gave evidence to the commission during its consideration, and, like you, I look forward to hearing its report next week. There is a fundamental issue at stake here with its work, of course, and that is about the nature of the settlement within the United Kingdom. We have addressed issues during First Minister's questions and during this session of questions to you already on these matters. Do you agree with me that it is important that, in Wales, as we look towards developing our own jurisdiction and to ensure that we have access to law as a social justice issue, but also a coherent statute book in terms of constitutional law, we look across the world for examples of how that is being achieved?
I and other Members were fortunate enough to visit Jerusalem earlier in the year and to meet with a former chief justice of Israel, where he explained how the Israeli jurisdiction grew out of the British jurisdiction following the secession of the UK mandate in Palestine, and was able to develop a jurisdiction over time of its own and take on additional powers and additional responsibilities as time grew. It appears to me that that's a very good model for Wales and a very good model that we may be able to follow.
Without prejudging the report of the commission next week, Counsel General, I'd be grateful if you could ensure that Members would have an early opportunity to debate these matters, and also ensure that we have a richer appreciation of how a Welsh jurisdiction will help us to achieve our ambitions for social justice but also ensure that we have a more coherent United Kingdom at the end of this process.