Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:39 pm on 24 April 2018.
Thank you. I'm grateful to you, Dirprwy Lywydd, for allowing me a moment or two, or just a moment perhaps to be more accurate—[Laughter.]—just with a quick word and a question in relation to electric vehicles. We discussed the regulation of vehicles and limiting traffic and bringing in speed limits as if we have no intention of tackling the prevalence of the internal combustion engine. In Norway, in December, the sales of electric vehicles outstripped sales of cars with internal combustion engines for the very first time, and we too should be aiming for that here in Wales.
Now, other EV manufacturers are available, but I am very grateful to Renault UK for lending me an electric vehicle in the next few weeks for me to—including other elements of my work—travel down to the National Assembly, where I'll be plugging into the new charge points here, hopefully, in Cardiff Bay. But can we have an assurance that, rather than lagging behind, as this Government has been doing, unfortunately—you're trying to get on the curve, let alone trying to stay ahead of it—we in Wales will be trying to join the twenty-first century revolution towards using electric vehicles? Because you look at cities like Dundee, where they are streets ahead of us, you look at incentives that can be brought in—how about free parking for people with electric vehicles? How about access to places for people with electric vehicles? Incentivise, make it a proactive mission of this Government to make sure that the internal combustion engine becomes not the favoured choice of people because it becomes a no-brainier for them to choose an EV.