The report in the 'Belfast Telegraph' that I am appealing the judgement is factually incorrect. I have made no decision as yet on appeal. In my consideration of the way forward and informed by legal opinion, I wrote to Executive colleagues on 28 June to make them aware of the consequential impacts of what is a profound constitutional ruling by the court that will have repercussive impacts across every Stormont Department and the legislative process and to seek their views on that point. The legal advice available to me makes it clear that there are potentially far-reaching ramifications for the Assembly and all Departments. This is the first time that the High Court has used the power in section 6 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 to declare provisions to be outside the legislative competence of the Assembly and not law. It would be hugely remiss of me not to make my Executive colleagues aware of the extent of the judgement in that respect.

The court judgement declared that sections 12 to 14 of the Justice (Sexual Offences and Trafficking Victims) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 are not law, as they are outside the legislative competence of the Assembly, since they are incompatible with the applicant's article 10 rights. That incompatibility finding is a very narrow one that could be addressed in a number of ways, including by legislative amendment. Those sections are not the reason for any potential appeal. I intend to give further consideration to a Justice-specific response to that aspect of the judgement, irrespective of any decision about whether to take forward an appeal.

The judgement imposes a high standard of rationality on the reasoning in the Assembly and Committee debates during the passage of legislation. That is likely to generate future challenges to legislative competence based on a forensic dissection of the quality and rationality of Assembly and Committee debates. That is a finding that imposes a threshold standard on the legislative process that will be difficult to meet in practice. The approach taken by the court risks undermining the effectiveness of the Assembly. The assumption that a matter not debated has not been adequately considered is not in line with the reality of the operation of the political scrutiny process, which cannot be fully considered by simply reading Hansard or Committee minutes. It is on those constitutional matters and their potential impacts alone that I sought the views of Executive colleagues. While any decision on an appeal is for me to take, it is important, given the wider ramifications identified, that I consider their responses before making any decisions as to the way forward. The deadline for responses is 5.00 pm today. When I have reached a decision, I will ensure, as I previously promised, that I notify MLAs as a matter of urgency.