Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:36 pm on 5 December 2017.
Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. Plaid Cymru, in moving these amendments, isn’t opposing the original motion or most of what the Minister for Environment said in what I think is her first speech in the Chamber, given her new duties. But what we are trying to do is to put a focus on where we believe action is needed urgently in order to tackle the public health problem that is air pollution.
Our amendments focus on the need to move away from a plan to a far more statutory approach, where there are statutory duties on public bodies to monitor and take action on air pollution. I make no apologies, as we are sharing Christmas presents from last year, that these proposals are based on the amendments that we as Plaid Cymru sought to make to the public health Bill six months ago. We are rehearsing those issues again because we think it’s relevant and needs action.
And though I agree with most of what the Minister said in her opening remarks, she didn’t mention the fact that the Welsh Government, as well as the UK Government, is facing a court case as we speak by ClientEarth for failings in providing clean air in Wales. Although there is some attempt in what the Minister said to cast blame on Westminster, this is an entirely devolved area, and the capacity to tackle air pollution is in the hands of the Welsh Government.