Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. As we’ve heard two speeches from two committee chairs and one from a party spokesperson from one of the opposition parties, I think I will keep my comments brief, because I don’t want to rehearse the same old issues. But generally speaking, we welcome and accept, as Nick Ramsay said, just how necessary the introduction of this tax is, considering, as Simon Thomas mentioned, the significant decrease in Welsh funding that would come about if we weren’t to introduce such a tax in light of the changes that are to take place in two years’ time. So, I think it’s a reasonable step to introduce a new land transaction tax in order to avoid that situation arising. Of course, in terms of this afternoon’s debate, we are at Stage 1 and we will have an opportunity to scrutinise fully the types of details that we’ve just had a taster of. Of course, there’s a great deal more detail available in these very useful reports, and we’re grateful for the work of Members on both committees.

It is one of the most technically complex Bills that the Welsh Government has ever introduced. I think we should praise them on the broad-ranging consultation that has taken place on this Bill, and their willingness to include practitioners and stakeholders in the process as a whole, and the type of approach that has been reflected in the way that the Cabinet Secretary for Finance has treated with this process. I do think that we would all accept the fundamental principle that we should ensure that the transfer from the old system to the new system is as smooth as possible. It is understandable, since SDLT is long established in Wales, that practitioners are well used to that way of working, I think, therefore, that the Cabinet Secretary’s endeavours in drawing up a Bill that introduces a new tax, but one that has enough of the features of SDLT to make it easily recognisable for practitioners, is a sensible step.

Of course, I think we are eager, as has started to happen in Scotland, that we should be taking the opportunities that will emerge from having these powers to innovate in due time. I think it’s a matter of getting the balance right that is the challenge for us. This is what we will be discussing in more detail during the next stages of the Bill’s scrutiny: for example, the ability to create regional bands in order to reflect the different characteristics and natures of the housing markets and other relevant factors in various parts of Wales, and the differences in talking about the current situation as far as second homes and buy to let are concerned. Of course, that context too is different in England, and particularly in London as compared to the situation in Wales. It may be different again on a regional and local level in Wales. Therefore, what we want to ensure is that that balance is correctly struck in terms of the Bill, in terms of creating the framework where we have sufficient consistency with the old SDLT system, and then taking the opportunity to innovate. Certainly, in thinking about the debate that we have just had, we do need an appropriate role for the Senedd here—and both Chairs touched upon this issue—and we do need to ensure that as we are legislating for the first time here, in creating this tax for the first time in 800 years, then we must ensure that we get the foundations and principles right in terms of the balance of power between the Executive and the Parliament in terms of acting on this Bill and this tax, but also in terms of the way in which we legislate and tax more generally.