Llywydd, I represent Newport East, which is ethnically diverse. I was born and brought up in Pill in Newport, which is ethnically diverse, much more so now than in my youth. The EU enlargement, for example, has added considerable pace to that. There have always been tensions, I think, in such areas, along racial lines, but it certainly has got worse, in my experience, in recent times, partly because of the perceived terrorism threat and partly, perhaps, because of the pressures around EU enlargement. So, I do think it’s timely that we have this debate today, and what I wanted to concentrate on, really, was how we go about setting messages and making it as clear as possible that we don’t want xenophobia, we don’t want hostility, we don’t want mistrust, and we don’t want misunderstandings. In that respect, I think it’s very important that all of us as front-line politicians say the right things and so do organisations with key roles to play, but civic society more generally, and, really, that people at large, communities at large, understand the importance of countering the sort of sentiments, the sort of prejudice and discrimination that none of us wants to see Wales.

Because I think all of us, even personally, would be able to remember examples of where somebody in our company has said something that was wrong, was factually wrong, was discriminatory, was prejudicial, and, you know, there possibly have been times when we’ve spoken out against it and made them aware of our contrary views, as it were. But there have also probably been times where we haven’t, for all sorts of reasons, and I would include myself amongst those with that experience. Increasingly, I think that all of us, people at large, need to understand the importance of countering the sorts of views, the sorts of prejudice and discrimination that do lead to problems. It doesn’t stop there always. When people say those things, it creates an atmosphere. It can lead to incidents. So, if you want more integrated and cohesive societies, I believe everyone has a responsibility, and we need to say that. We need to make it as clear as possible, and we need to support organisations that get that message across.

So, as well as having the Welsh Government’s framework for action, you know, the delivery plan, the reporting call centre, various groupings and infrastructure, I think it’s also important that it goes beyond that and that it percolates down to all levels of our communities. I think that there has to be a strong effort to get this bottom-up approach to making clear what’s considered acceptable and what isn’t.

As part of that effort, Llywydd, I would like to highlight an event that I attended last Saturday, which was reaching out to younger people particularly. It took place in Newport city centre. It was the Crush Hate Crime festival. It ran through the afternoon and into the evening at a couple of venues. It continues its effort through the week, and it was about using music, live theatre performance and indeed speeches. I spoke there, I know that Steffan Lewis did, I know that other politicians did, and academics. It ran through the day, it had a good audience and it sought to bring these various media together—music, speech, theatre performance—to get the right messages across, to get, I hope, a lot of media coverage, and to start helping to build this effort to show what we consider to be acceptable and unacceptable.

I well remember—others here might, Llywydd—Rock Against Racism and how powerful it was, quite some time ago now, and how it had a lasting legacy that continues to this day. So, you can use music, you can use art and culture as part of the general effort to bring about what I think we all want to see. So, I hope the Cabinet Secretary will be able to pay tribute to these efforts, because it’s not easy to organise a programme of events. It takes a lot of time, a lot of effort from a lot of people and a lot of organisations. I believe it was very effective. I believe we need more of it, and in years to come, Newport will build on what took place last Saturday and what will take place through this week to increase that effort and, I hope, increase its efficacy.