8. 8. Debate: Stage 4 of the Landfill Disposals Tax (Wales) Bill

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:23 pm on 27 June 2017.

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Photo of Mr Simon Thomas Mr Simon Thomas Plaid Cymru 5:23, 27 June 2017

I don’t suppose this Bill is the talk of bars and clubs up and down the land, but, if I ever get to a bar and meet a landfill operator, I will be able to talk with him or her for several hours now on landfill and the operations of it. And that’s very much a learning process that I went through on the committee, but I think the Government went through as well, because there were several amendments that directly arose from the collection of the evidence that we had that have improved the Bill and ensured that the Bill can operate effectively.

I’ve been on several committees here in the last six years that have taken through Bills, in a different guise I’ve done legislative competence Orders previously, and, in another different guise, done parliamentary Bills. I have to say that this has been the single most effective Bill process that we’ve undertaken. I think that needs to go on record, and my thanks are to the Minister and his officials for helping that process, but also to my fellow Finance Committee members and the members of our team as well for ensuring that smooth-running.

I think a lot of that was due to the approach the committee took, but also the approach the Cabinet Secretary took, because he not only listened to amendments, he actively worked with opposition Members on amendments, which I think is refreshing, and we had the wonders—the absolute wonders—of two amendments from Labour Party backbenchers taken forward and discussed in a Bill committee. Now, this is an innovation I want to see more of, I have to say. I want to see more of this, and taken forward in absolutely the right spirit that backbenchers hold their Government to account, but press interesting ideas, which the Government then responds to and comes back. And, indeed, at least one of them had a real impact and change on the Bill.

So, this is the way we should be making legislation, I feel, Deputy Presiding Officer. It’s only the case—. Because sometimes you have an ideological difference, I accept that. If it’s the sale of council homes, whatever, you’re going to have that difference, and you can’t work in quite that way. But, when we can see what we can achieve together, we can, I think, improve Bills significantly. But, particularly if we’re going to have tax Bills and a legislative approach to the budget process, which is something, again, the Finance Committee’s interested in, then, the more we work together, the better we will be as a parliament, but, more importantly, the better the voters will know what we’re doing, understand why we’re doing it, and therefore support the work we’re doing. So, I’d like to thank the Cabinet Secretary for the way he approached this and say that, at the end of the day, this was a Welsh Government Bill, but passed by a parliament of Wales.