Group 1: Restrictions on use of the power in section 1 (Amendments 1, 5, 6)

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:29 pm on 5 July 2022.

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Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 6:29, 5 July 2022

I thank colleagues for their contribution in this particular section and, as we've heard, amendment 1 is a consequential amendment, and I'm grateful for the support for that from Plaid Cymru, and I would hope that we will have support from Conservative colleagues for that particular amendment.

Then, I think we had the opportunity at Stage 2 to explore recommendation 6 from the LJC committee in detail, and I was able to, as Peter Fox says, bring forward amendments to try and alleviate some of the concerns that were raised at that point. But I hope that, in my opening remarks to this section, I was able to set out why it is still felt necessary to have this power, even though, as I said, it would only likely be used in limited circumstances. There might be changes which might need to be brought in at short notice, but of course subject to the approval of this Senedd.

Then, as I've set out, in terms of the use of the word 'alter' as opposed to 'modify', I think that the amendment tabled by Peter Fox, again, it seems that stylistically the word 'alter' is preferred because it's used elsewhere to describe similar changes. It is a used and understood word in law and, as such, I'm afraid I can't accept the amendment that Peter Fox has brought forward in this regard either. But I'm very grateful to colleagues for their contributions.