There are lots of placards across Port Talbot, thousands of leaflets have been delivered and volunteers have been knocking doors and doing street stalls. Some people would think there was an election on the cards, because of the level of activity. It's clear, too, that those volunteers are more than prepared to step up that activity if this proposal goes to statutory consultation, as am I. They don't want this prison and many, many people, as you've seen from this petition, do not want this prison to go ahead in Port Talbot, and we do not need it here in Wales either, for reasons that we've given previously.

Despite the strength of feeling, there has been a noticeable flip-flopping of positions by the Welsh Government over this issue—our Government, which is tasked with making the lives of the people of this country better. This petition is clearly worded to call on the Welsh Government to change course. First, the Welsh Government, when this proposal was first announced, said they had worked closely with the UK Government to select sites and that they would continue to work with the MOJ. There seemed to be a positive welcome of the modernity of the new prison and unproven arguments about rehabilitation. Then, things changed to the decision being purely one of the MOJ and that the Welsh Government had very little at all to do with this proposal, despite evidence that Welsh Government officials were engaging with local businesses in the vicinity of the site, possibly before the formal announcement in March.

The latest position, after being presented with evidence related to the land covenant agreement on the proposed site, is that it is within their power to block or at least delay the proposed site from going ahead. The Welsh Government are now in a position of saying that they're waiting for more information and vague guarantees regarding the site before any decision is made. That no decision has been made to sell the land owned by the Welsh Government is where we're at at the moment.

There is an inconsistency and a refusal by the Welsh Government, in my view, to take responsibility, which has become the hallmark of what we've seen with regard to this particular issue. So, let me make it clear: the ability to block the prison is within the power of this Welsh Government. They do have ministerial power to block or delay the sale of this land to the MOJ. Not only is there a covenant, but there's also the fact that, very recently, this site, as has already been said by David Rees, was a high flood-risk area. I don't think Government answers on that issue have been enough for local people so far.

Legal advice that has been provided to me shows that the Welsh Government can legally refuse to sell the land and force the MOJ to compulsory purchase it. I and others have pointed this out to Ministers time and again, but to no avail. The fact that they will not recognise the power they hold suggests to me that they want this superprison to go ahead. But beyond the legalities, where is the Welsh Government in doing their duty and being an advocate for Wales? I understand that some here, particularly the Conservatives and UKIP, are generally in favour of more prisons. But the progressive position should be to oppose an ever-increasing prison population. There should be an opposition to doing incarceration and rehabilitation on the cheap. There is plenty of evidence from elsewhere in the world that large-scale prisons are not conducive environments for proper rehabilitation. And do you know what? Not even talking about looking at research—. Talking to prisoners now and talking to ex-prisoners who tell me that it's like a factory system, who tell me that they're not rehabilitated when they get out of that system, that they go back into crime and that crime happens in prison—crime that they weren't even involved in before they got into prison; they got involved in it when they were incarcerated. So, I think we need to get a reality check on that too.

Rehabilitation in prison works best on a smaller scale. It's the same in schools—it's not a new concept. If you have a smaller class size, you have more attention from the teacher. If you have a smaller class in prison to be able to be rehabilitated by that person, you will generally be more successful. Why are we looking at these expansive-sized prisons here in Wales when we simply do not need to have that scale of prisons? The Wales Governance Centre has said that we will be overcapacity if we create this prison in Port Talbot when we have a new prison in north Wales to house those very Welsh prisoners who are in prison in England, because they could not be housed in Wales before now. Why are we not repatriating those prisoners to Wales, where they should be, as opposed to keeping them in prisons elsewhere in the UK?

I'm already over time. I have much more to say and, sadly, won't have the time to say it. But I think it's a testament to this campaign and the local area that we want jobs that are viable in Port Talbot. We don't want to have jobs that are—that, somehow, we should accept anything for the sake of having a job. I think it's quite unambitious of the UK Government and the Welsh Government to think that we should just accept what we are given. Talk to the people of Port Talbot, talk to them about what jobs they want, as opposed to it being thrust upon us without us having a decision on something so important as a prison. We do not want to have a new prison in that area, and I hope that the campaigners are successful and will join those politicians who are on their side as part of this campaign. Diolch yn fawr iawn.