GERAINT Rhys says (Have Your Say, January 13) that a Yes vote on March 3 will mean Wales will no longer have to ask 'permission on every Welsh decision' and that voting yes should not be seen as a stepping stone to independence.

The Assembly currently does not have to ask Westminster each time it wants to make a law; it has secondary law-making powers. What a Yes vote in March will mean is that the Assembly will have primary legislative powers on 'all matters' in the 20 areas within its remit, instead of just some of them.

Whether this is a stepping stone to independence, it depends on your definition. One is a sovereign nation. Wales is a nation — it has its own recognised international football and rugby team, for example. What about sovereign? With a Yes vote the Assembly will be able to ask the Queen to give Assent to its laws (called Assembly Acts), and the Queen is the sovereign Head of State. Assembly and UK Acts will require only authority from the Queen to be ratified. All it may take is one decision in the Supreme Court to reverse the centuries long decision that the UK Parliament has sole sovereignty.

There is nothing to stop the Supreme Court ruling that an Assembly Act has the same authority as a UK Act. So independence cannot be ruled out as a possibility after a Yes vote, but would be near impossible if there was a No vote.

Councillor Jonathan Bishop LLM

Singleton Park, Swansea