THE wishes of the Welsh people expressed in the two devolution referendums in 1997 and 2011 will be ignored if the UK Government continues on its current course with Brexit, a leading Welsh lawyer has said.

Earlier today, Monday, Plaid Cymru released a report on the impact of Westminster's EU Withdrawal Bill on Welsh devolution put together by lawyer Fflur Jones.

In the report, Ms Jones said the bill "requires significant amendment to ensure it does not erode the current devolution settlement in Wales."

The report repeats concerns previously expressed by Plaid Cymru and others that the Brexit process will result in powers in devolved areas such as agriculture and the environment currently held by Europe would be retained by Westminster once the UK leaves the EU, rather than being handed to Cardiff.

South Wales East AM Steffan Lewis, who is also Plaid's Brexit spokesman, said he was concerned devolution was being "undermined".

“For a lawyer to describe the bill as posing an existential threat to devolution should cause real concern," he said.

"Westminster politicians, with no accountability to the people of Wales, are attempting to give themselves to power to amend Welsh law, in devolved Welsh fields, without ever needing to consult the people of Wales."

He added: "For our country’s views to be so insignificant on matters of such importance is wholly unacceptable and Plaid Cymru MPs will be seeking to amend the bill to make sure that Wales’s opinion matters.

"If the British state is to be a union of four equal partners, then the British government cannot continue to act as if it is the government of a unitary state.

"There are four countries in the UK, not just one, and it’s time Westminster started realising it."

Ms Jones also said the EU had become "part of the glue holding the UK together" and the Brexit bill had "been published with scant regard for the principles of a changed UK territorial constitution as evolved since devolution originally took place".

"It would appear that the UK Government seems to struggle to comprehend those principles, let alone act in accordance with them," she said

But, she added, the fact that Wales voted in favour of Brexit meant its bargaining position was "not strong as a country".

Although the Welsh Government is required to pass a legislative consent motion before Westminster can legislate on a devolved area, refusing to do so is not legally binding, meaning the UK Government can continue as it wishes.