This has nothing to do with reopening old wounds. There’s nothing to do about not accepting the Brexit result. This Bill is a recipe for terrible law making. It will create uncertainty on what the law is, it will bypass parliamentary scrutiny across the United Kingdom, and it is yet another example of a UK Bill that undermines the devolution settlement.

How on earth does any Government think it’s a good idea to revoke law before even knowing what that law is? By analogy, it’s like me opening a very large statute book, blindfolded, trying to guess that I’m in the right area, and then start ripping out pages of that book and just hope for the best that I’ve revoked the proper law, the right law. And don’t take my word for it: as Peredur Owen Griffiths mentioned, when Lord Callanan was challenged about this, when he was asked how much significant European law would be kept, changed or altered before the Bill is passed, he said he did not know. The UK Government does not know the answer. I have no confidence that this UK Government has thought through the implications of this poor Bill. This is a move driven by ideology rather than by good law making.

The fact, as Huw Irranca-Davies pointed out, that the sunset clause can be delayed until 23 June 2026 shows that the Senedd and its election is totally forgotten or totally unimportant, or both, in Whitehall. Obviously, the date has been decided as some sort of 10-year celebration of Brexit rather than serious law making that shows respect to the devolved legislatures of the United Kingdom.

I’ll go a step further than my colleague Peredur Owen Griffiths when he said about bringing back control. That was a rallying call of Brexit, wasn’t it? Bring back control. But it’s more than bring back control to Westminster; it’s bring back control to the hands of the UK Ministers. It’s not to the national Parliament, but to the UK Government itself. Fortunately—fortunately—there’s been cross-party support across UK Parliaments for greater parliamentary scrutiny. It’s such a shame that the Welsh Conservatives don’t reflect the views of Tory peers at the House of Lords. Does the Counsel General agree with that call, and what steps will he take to strengthen the role of this Senedd to scrutinise the powers exercised by Welsh Ministers?

This Bill is not some sort of niche constitutional argument; it impacts basic human rights. As has been mentioned by colleagues already, important areas in employment law, environmental law and consumer protection, such as hard-fought-for rights to paid annual leave, parental leave and protection against fire and re-hire, could be lost. And again, don’t take my word for it, as the highly respected independent legal charity, the Public Law Project, said this: the Bill’s ministerial powers constitute

'a blank cheque to rewrite or repeal valued rights and protections.'

This isn’t a politically motivated argument from our point of view. This is serious. The UK Government has no idea what they’re doing, no idea of the complex areas they are going into by doing this ideologically motivated move.

Counsel General, a final question: how will the Welsh Government ensure that it complies with its duties under the Equality Act 2010 and protect the rights of the citizens of Wales? Diolch yn fawr.