7. What discussions has the Counsel General had with UK Government law officers about the impact of the proposed reform to the Human Rights Act on Welsh law? OQ57419

Thank you for your question. The proposals in the consultation on the Human Rights Act 1998 are UK Government ones. They do not reflect the views of Welsh Government. My officials and I, and in conjunction with the Minister for Social Justice, Jane Hutt, are carefully considering the consultation document.

Diolch yn fawr, Cwnsler Cyffredinol. Obviously, from the answer you gave to Rhianon Passmore and everything else you've done over the years, you clearly agree with me that any changes to fundamental rights, like the Human Rights Act, should always be met with real caution. They form the basis of individual and collective rights within our liberal democracy. We should be adding to them, not taking rights away and talking about stuff like rights inflation.

We are used to the UK Government's power grab from this Parliament by legislating in devolved areas and through the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020. However, I think that here we have something even more serious, because we have a power grab against the Welsh people. As the Minister, Jane Hutt, said in her declaration today: this goes to the very fundamental basis of our devolution settlement. It's a fundamental right that all legislation from this place, be it primary or secondary legislation, needs to be compatible with convention rights, and if they're incompatible, then the people of Wales can hold each and every one of us accountable in court. The proposal preventing a court from quashing certain secondary legislation found incompatible with a person's human rights totally undermines this right. This was a right that the people of Wales—

The Member needs to ask his question now.

—won in a referendum in 1997, a right that was affirmed in a second referendum in 2011, and confirmed in 2021 when the abolishers were totally rejected at the ballot box. What can you do as Counsel General, and what can all of us do from every party, every Member of this Senedd, to protect the rights of the people of Wales? Diolch yn fawr.

Thank you for the supplementary. I mean, I can probably respond by perhaps quoting what the chief executive of Amnesty International said. This is a body that I think has support across political parties and incredible international status. Sacha Deshmukh, the chief executive, she said, 'Let's not pussyfoot around with this. It is not wrong to say that Government ministers risk aligning themselves with authoritarian regimes if their overhaul of the Human Rights Act is successful.'

When you take the review of human rights, what is also proposed in respect of judicial review, which is about limiting the ability of the courts to challenge the exercise of power—the unlawful exercise of power by Governments—when you look at the Nationalities and Borders Bill, which seeks to give arbitrary rights to take away citizenship from individuals, when you look at the police, crime and sentencing legislation, which seeks to provide substantial restrictions on the freedom to protest, what we have is a Government that is moving towards an increasingly authoritarian framework. So, this review is fundamentally important.

I can say, certainly, my view as Counsel General is that I do not want to see any diminution of human rights in terms of our compatibility with human rights legislation, and I think we'll make that clear and many other points clear in the representations that we actually make to the UK Government. You know, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. If ever there was a time to be eternally vigilant, now is it.

Finally, question 8, Huw Irranca-Davies.