Carwyn court threat to Sargeant report debate
The Welsh Government has taken the unprecedented step of threatening the Assembly with legal action if a debate about alleged leaks before the death of Carl Sargeant goes ahead today .
On Monday night, First Minister Carwyn Jones sent a letter to Presiding Officer Elin Jones telling her that her decision to allow a debate led by the Welsh Conservatives was
“unlawful”.
The letter gave a deadline of lunchtime yesterday for her to withdraw the item from today’s schedule or face “judicial review”.
However, just after 1pm yesterday, Ms Jones responded saying she was not “persuaded” by his argument and the item still stood to be heard.
The item will see AMs vote on a motion to legally compel the Welsh Government’s top civil servant to release a report about into claims that people outside the Assembly found out about Carl Sargeant’s sacking before he was told.
The Welsh Government argues that if the motion is beyond the
Assembly’s powers as it will set a precedent that no information it holds is exempt from publication, no matter whether it is sensitive for legal, commercial or national security reasons.
It is understood to be planning to take legal action if the vote passes tomorrow and the clerk to the National Assembly subsequently demands the Permanent Secretary hands over her report.
The report, by Dame Shan Morgan, concluded that there had been no unauthorised release of information.
She has said she could not find evidence of the prior unauthorised disclosure of Mr Sargeant’s sacking, but she has refused to publish the report.
But a political journalist was told Mr Sargeant was going to be sacked, as was Labour AM Lee Waters and MPs are also believed to have been told, leading to speculation the release of the information had been authorised.
If it is passed, motion scheduled for business today would leave Dame Shan open to prosecution if she continues to refuse to publish the report.
Under Section 37 of the Government of Wales Act 2006, AMs can require any person to produce any Welsh Government document in their possession, however the power has never been used.
The five-page letter from the Welsh Government accuses the Presiding Officer of “acting unlawfully” by accepting the motion.
In her response, Ms Jones wrote: “Thank you for your letter. I have taken advice and carefully considered your arguments. Having done so, I am not persuaded of the case which you have advanced. As a result, the motion remains scheduled for debate.”
During a heated First Minister’s Questions yesterday afternoon, the First Minister had to defend his position. Mr Jones said that he was not trying to stop the debate, but did want it postponing.
He said that by allowing this report to be released under the “badly-drafted” law, it would mean the Government could have to release sensitive information, possibly personal details or commercially confidential contracts, which could have commercial implications for Wales as a country.
He said: “We have to protect the position of a senior member of Welsh Government staff who, if the motion was passed, would be at risk of prosecution. This is a hugely serious legal issue and it’s incumbent on us to make sure that steps are taken to protect her.
“Section 37 is so broadly defined that without greater clarity that potentially any document of any kind which is in control of minister or employee of the Welsh Government is potentially releasable.
“Regardless whether it is caught by an exemption of FOI Act, regardless of whether it’s caught by the Data Protection Act, regardless of whether it might be libellous or contain matters of National Security. I have in my possession, documents that are given to me as First Minister, that deal with national security.
“Under the interpretation right now, that would be releasable.”
A Welsh Government spokeswoman said: “This is much bigger than any single debate. The way section 37 is being interpreted by the Presiding Officer puts Welsh Government in the perverse position where we could be compelled to publish information without regard for any other laws or rights.
“We believe this is unlawful and given the significance of the issues surrounding section 37 we will seek proper determination by the courts.”
Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies said: “This a dangerous and unprecedented challenge to the legitimacy of the National Assembly for Wales, equivalent to the Welsh Government trying to shut the Assembly down. There is an important principle at stake here. A man has lost his life and it is our duty as politicians to get answers and to make sure that this never happens again.
“Ultimately, if there’s nothing to this report, you have to ask yourself why the First Minister is going to such extraordinary lengths to prevent it from seeing the light of day. I cannot imagine this action taking place in any other institution and we should not tolerate it here,” he said.
Plaid AM Rhun ap Iorwerth also tweeted about it, asking: “Welsh Govt to legally challenge Assembly to try to block debate demanding publication of Reshuffle Leak Inquiry conclusions. Not on. What’s this Government afraid of.”
The FMQs descended into arguments between Mr Jones, Conservative, Ukip and Plaid Cymru members.
As the Labour ranks sat stony faced behind him, Mr Jones faced repeated calls to resign.
At one point, a row between Mr Jones and Plaid Cymru’s Adam Price required the Presiding Officer to intervene.
Further shouting led the First Minister to tell her she was “losing control”.
YESTERDAY was not a high point in the story of the Assembly.
Far from it. We had the spectacle of a First Minister threatening “court proceedings” over the publication of a report, commissioned after the death of former Communities Secretary Carl Sargeant, into whether reshuffle details were leaked.
Carwyn Jones asked Presiding Officer Elin Jones to call off a debate the Tories hope will force the report’s publication.
Mr Sargeant, who was the AM for Alyn and Deeside, was found dead four days after he was sacked from the cabinet in the wake of allegations about his behaviour towards women.
The Welsh Government’s investigation found “no evidence of prior unauthorised sharing of information” but there are demands for the full report to be made public.
Ministers are concerned that the identity of witnesses could be revealed if the document is published. Valid anxieties need to be addressed – it is in nobody’s interest for a precedent to be set which would make it all but impossible for a government to protect the identity of vulnerable individuals or commercially confidential material.
But in this case there will be the deep suspicion on the Opposition benches that the Welsh Government does not want a report into its inner workings to come before the people of Wales.
There would be uproar if Prime Minister Theresa May was in such a stand-off with Commons Speaker John Bercow. Presiding Officer Ms Jones has made it clear that the debate will go ahead.
Anyone watching the exchanges in the Senedd could sense the rancorous atmosphere which has now taken hold.
There should be a presumption of full disclosure. A life has been lost and the citizens of this nation, and above all Mr Sargeant’s family and friends, deserve to know the fullest account of the events that took place at the heart of the Welsh Government.
This is not a time for damage limitation and obfuscation. The renewal of Welsh politics will not happen without transparency.
Devolution will not deliver on its promise if the people of Wales believe, unfairly or not, that a political class in Cardiff is determined to avoid full scrutiny. Finding a way forward that protects proper privacy but opens up the machinery of government to sunlight should not be an impossible task; it is an important one.