Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 1:58 pm on 13 June 2018.

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Photo of Mr Simon Thomas Mr Simon Thomas Plaid Cymru 1:58, 13 June 2018

I thank the Cabinet Secretary for that not wholly encouraging news, I have to say. From her perspective, I understand she's not the one responsible for this, but it's coming and going like the tide itself, actually. If we could harness the energy from the indecision of the Westminster Government, we'd be doing very well here in Wales at the moment.

But I think it was a serious offer, and it was an opening bid by the Welsh Government, and it could've opened all kinds of discussions around co-ownership, taking the technology forward, Welsh Government co-investing in a brand new technology in Wales. If the Westminster Government can co-invest in Hitachi in Wylfa, then there's no reason why the Welsh Government can't do something similar for the tidal lagoon. I think the Welsh Government, I discern, is up for discussions around these in order to get the project going.

Since we don't yet have a decision, and since my own personal view is that we are being softened up for a bad decision, can the Cabinet Secretary tell us whether any of this money that has been promised to the tidal lagoon can be made available for other renewable energy projects in Wales, whether she has in mind other things that we can take forward with our own powers, and our own planning powers, particularly under the new Wales Act 2017, and whether she has the opportunity now to reconsider her decision around a Wales national energy company, which £200 million would set up very nicely, thank you, to take forward a lot of ideas that I think Wales is ready for? If we are going to be disappointed by Westminster, our best response for that rejection is to show that we are better than them and can do better here in Wales.