THE UK's deputy prime minister Dominic Raab did meet with the Welsh Government during a visit to Cardiff to discuss the human rights act, it has been confirmed.
The Surrey MP, who is also the justice secretary, has faced ridicule online for posting photographs on Twitter of him posing with members of the Welsh Conservative opposition group in Senedd in which he appears to refer to them as “Welsh Government” partners.
Posting from his verified personal account the Conservative wrote: “I met @WelshGovernment partners to discuss how we’ll end abuses of the human rights framework and restore some common sense to our justice system.”
However the only people pictured with him were members of the Senedd Tory group and his UK Government cabinet colleague, the Conservative Welsh secretary Simon Hart. Welsh Government branding was visible in some of the pictures taken at its Cathays Park base.
The Deputy Prime Minister of the UK thinks the Welsh Conservatives are in government. https://t.co/y1DIW99yUx
— Alex Myles (@alexgmyles) February 11, 2022
Welsh Government deputy minister Dawn Bowden also pointed out the error on Twitter.
Last time I looked there weren’t any members of @WelshConserv in @WelshGovernment, but probably tells you all you need to know about @DominicRaab understanding of devolution. https://t.co/Q7Ra8yV1Th
— Dawn Bowden (@Dawn_Bowden) February 11, 2022
The Welsh Government however has confirmed that social justice minister Jane Hutt and counsel general Mick Antoniw met with Raab and raised the devolved government’s concerns over UK plans to replace the Human Rights Act.
Last month the Senedd voted to withhold consent, meaning it is formally objecting, to elments of the UK Government’s policing bill, though there are areas which the Welsh Government is supporting.
A Welsh Government spokesman said of Thursday’s meeting: “We discussed a range of significant issues. We remain particularly concerned about proposals to replace the Human Rights Act with a Bill of Rights.
“This risks weakening people’s rights and the proposals have potentially wide-ranging implications in respect of our equality policies, support for refugees and asylum seekers, and community cohesion, as well as for the devolution settlement more generally.
“We re-emphasised our belief that a different approach should be taken, more aligned with the findings of the Independent Human Rights Review which noted the positive benefits of the Act.”
- This article originally appeared on our sister site The National.
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