I welcome the report and the debate we're having in the Senedd today. It is a somewhat strange debate, because it relates to a UK-based organisation, on non-devolved functions, which has reported to this Senedd, which we vote on, and we have very little say in the mandate and framework within which it operates. So, I want to express my dissatisfaction with what I think is a timid report and its content, and, indeed, the state of human rights in Wales and the UK, which I believe is a direct result of the actions of this Tory Government in Westminster.

Now, I don't criticise the staff of the EHRC, but I do criticise the direction of the EHRC, which has been, since 2010, downgraded year after year. In 2007, when it was set up, it had a budget of £70 million. This year, some 13 years later, it has a budget of £17 million. So, it's no wonder it's so limited in what it can do and, in my estimation, has had something like a 500 per cent plus cut in its resources. That shouldn't be a surprise to us, because the UK Government has downgraded human rights just as it has downgraded, for example, the health and safety executive. These bodies that should be at the forefront of human rights and workers' safety rights have effectively been deliberately neutered. The Prime Minister and his predecessors have, from day one, attacked the Human Rights Act 1998 and the European convention on human rights, and, as we all know, even attempted to pass laws to allow the UK Government to break international law, and the Welsh Conservatives have collaborated in that agenda.

Turning to the report itself, it is, in my view, wholly inadequate and disappointing. The detail is limited and it fails to report on some of the big challenges facing Wales. In fact, there is more detail in the UK report relating to Wales than there is in the Welsh report. It fails to tackle head on the diminution of access to justice in Wales, the closure of courts. It fails to refer in any way to the way in which our communities have now limited access to justice and, in fact, were it not for the Welsh Government's support for citizens advice and support networks, there would be virtually no access to justice for so many people in Wales. It fails to make any useful comment on the impact of UK Government welfare reforms on inequality and poverty, and the disastrous roll-out of universal credit has not even been mentioned. Part of the problem is that its mandate now from UK Government is so watered down that it has become virtually invisible. I believe it is time that the functions of the EHRC in Wales were fully devolved, and I say the same for the health and safety executive. I cannot see how these bodies can any longer function effectively until their organisation and their mandate is devolved and becomes properly accountable to this Senedd and thereby to the people of Wales. Diolch.