Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:37 pm on 13 July 2021.
I welcome the setting up of a constitutional commission. Up until now, only Plaid Cymru, with independence, and abolish supporters have been consistent and have had an end point. Despite that, the majority of the Welsh people, in every opinion poll we've seen, want devolution either as we've got it now, or extended. I welcome the co-chair suggestion. Can I just remind the Minister that somebody who's been educated at Oxford, who's public school educated and a barrister—whether they are male or female, or if there's one of each, it does not give you diversity; it gives you exactly the same background.
We need to discuss where devolution ends. I have three questions. What discussion has taken place with the English regional mayors? Because I cannot see devolution working with England being between five and six times the size of the other three put together. Following on from Darren Millar's point, devolution has always been about taking things into Cardiff, either from local authorities or from Westminster; can we have some discussion on what ought to be devolved to the Welsh regions and to the Welsh local authorities, so we can have some movement in the other direction? And I ask again a question that I've previously asked to the First Minister: can you produce a list of items, such as currency, defence, national security, that should not be devolved—the end point? Otherwise, we have only two possible end points: independence or abolish.