Welsh Supreme Court judge idea 'premature'

The Supreme Court is the UK's highest court

A former deputy high court judge has rejected the idea of appointing a Welsh member of the Supreme Court as "premature".

Lord Thomas of Gresford said while Scotland and Northern Ireland had long-standing judicial systems, cases of Welsh law would "not be frequent".

"You cannot even find any publication where Welsh laws are collected," he said.

The Supreme Court said the Lord Chief Justice would rule on Welsh matters.

In a review of its selection commission, chief executive Jenny Rowe said: "As the body of Welsh law increases I believe that... will require consideration of the appointment of a Welsh justice."

The 12 Supreme Court judges currently include two from Scotland and one from Northern Ireland.

The Lord Chief Justice has previously sat on cases involving Welsh legislation

Guest judge

The review said the current pragmatic solution was to bring in an acting judge "who is seen as Welsh for any cases which come from Wales".

The Supreme Court said that so far, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, had been invited to play that role due to his Welsh background.

He was one of five judges who considered an asbestos compensation bill, rejected by the Supreme Court in February.

However, he was one of two judges who had disagreed with the majority view of the court which ruled the Welsh government had no right to force companies to meet NHS costs of treating affected workers.

The Lord Chief Justice was also on the Supreme Court panel in July 2014 which approved Welsh government moves to protect the wages of agricultural workers.