Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:22 pm on 31 January 2023.
I agree with you, Counsel General, that the existence and the work of the commission reflect the new enthusiasm that there is in Wales around our national conversation in terms of our constitutional future, and it's also contributing to that momentum. And that can be seen in a range of different ways and reflects a range of different views, perhaps. One example over the past weekend—as I've already referred to earlier this afternoon, I attended the Melin Drafod summit on independence; 200 people representing different parties, different parts of society and different parts of Wales, discussing independence, and publishing, as part of the summit, their new study on the funding question in relation to independence, which is one of the questions that the commission's interim report raises in the context of assessing the viability of independence, and that study responds to the Plaid Cymru presentation to the commission and the work specifically done by Professor John Doyle from Dublin City University, which demonstrated that it would be possible for Wales to afford independence, that there isn't as great a funding gap as had previously been thought, and the work of Melin Drafod confirmed that and has done further work on that basis.
So, there is civic enthusiasm and energy around the question of the constitutional future of Wales, which is similar, I think, to the period prior to the 1997 referendum. And it is the end of one period and the beginning of another, and the conversation that we're having is what that new chapter is, and in what direction are we moving. I think it is an opportunity for us to rejuvenate our democracy as we face the constitutional and broader democratic crisis across the UK. The interim report provides three possible options that could be looked into further on the constitutional future of Wales: first, safeguarding and strengthening devolution, federalism, secondly, and then independence. It's clear which of the three options my party would favour, but may I ask the Counsel General to tell us which of the three options the Welsh Government would support as the best option at this point? And in that context, is there a difference between the view of the Welsh Labour Government, Welsh Labour as a party, and as part of the wider British Labour Party in Wales, and the policy of the UK Labour Party? Or is there an expectation that the policy of the Welsh Labour Government, Welsh Labour, will decide on the policy of the Labour Party more generally? And what's the inter-relationship—? Now, you mentioned the Gordon Brown commission and his recommendations to the leadership of the UK Labour Party. What's the inter-relationship between that process of policy creation at the UK level in terms of the Labour Party and the work of the commission? In the case of Scotland, in the constitutional convention there, which had such an influence on the devolution process in Scotland, the upshot of the convention and the final report did have a direct impact on the policy of the Labour Party; it was adopted as policy. Is that the kind of inter-relationship that you anticipate with the final report of this commission, that that would be respected by the leadership of the Labour Party at the UK level? And would you encourage that as the best way forward, of course referring to the fact that the Gordon Brown commission report didn't say much about Wales and the fact that the work of the constitutional commission was still ongoing?
The constitutional commission does note a number of areas where there have been calls for further devolution. We've heard reference to justice and policing, for example, but it lists some others: employment, where work is ongoing by the TUC; benefits; the Crown Estate; the railways and so on and so forth, and broadcasting too. And as part of your presentation to the next stage, do you intend to list those areas that you as a Government would wish to see the next Westminster Government devolving powers to Wales? And as a Government that has said that you espouse the right to self-determination, would you want to include in that list the right to call a referendum on independence or on the constitutional future, in whichever direction, that that right shouldn't be reserved to Westminster but that it should be devolved here, where it should be, in the hands of the elected representatives of the people of Wales?