Plaid presses UK Minister to devolve justice to Wales

Mark Mansfield

Plaid Cymru has urged the UK Government to devolve justice to Wales after a report found a 24% rise in rough sleeping among people leaving prison.

Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts raised the findings in the Commons on Tuesday. Justice Secretary Alex Norris gave no direct answer when she asked whether devolving justice was key to improving the system, a day after he told BBC Wales there was “more to come” on devolution.

The Wales Governance Centre report found that the number of prison leavers recorded as sleeping rough on the day of their release had risen for the fourth year in a row. It also found that the number of people recalled to custody in Wales for breaching the conditions of their release rose by 27% in 2025.

Of the 52 deaths recorded among prison leavers under probation supervision in Wales in the year to March 2025, 37% were attributed to drug poisoning where intent could not be determined. The equivalent share across England and Wales was 21%.

Ms Saville Roberts told MPs: “Tackling reoffending requires rehabilitation – and the Wales Governance Centre’s latest report shows that’s not happening well enough in Wales.”

She added: “Addressing these issues requires a holistic approach, which is impossible when Westminster holds the levers over justice.”

Mr Norris said councils, health services and charities could work together effectively at a local level and that he had discussed the issue with Welsh Government ministers in Cardiff on Monday.

“Those were conversations we were having yesterday, and I’m very much looking forward to building on them,” he said.

Speaking after the exchange, Ms Saville Roberts said: “Yesterday, the Justice Secretary spoke of the ‘high potential’ for further devolution and promised there was ‘more to come’. Today, when asked directly whether Wales should have the powers needed to tackle these challenges, he ducked the question.”

The Welsh Government argues that devolving justice would allow it to coordinate prisons and probation with services it already oversees, including housing, health and education.

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Mr Norris told BBC Wales on Monday that discussions on youth justice were further advanced than talks on policing. He confirmed that the Home Office, Downing Street and Welsh ministers were discussing policing powers but gave no timetable for a transfer.

Welsh Secretary Stephen Kinnock has questioned the case for devolving policing. He told LBC in July that there was “a strong case” for keeping the current arrangements and warned that changing them could cause destabilisation.

The Commission on Justice in Wales, chaired by former Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, recommended devolving justice and policing in 2019.