I was feeling very mischievous a moment ago thinking what kind of emergency vote we could call because Plaid Cymru are in the majority here at the moment in the Chamber. [Laughter.]

I’m pleased to be able to take part very briefly in this debate, and I congratulate Simon on the work that he’s done in preparing this report that looks at the potential of hydrogen for Wales, and that word ‘potential’ is the important one for me here, because like so many new technologies, and ways of using those technologies, we’re starting in terms of seeing how far we can push those boundaries.

We need every tool in several battles that we currently have—the battle against climate change, and evidently hydrogen does offer something in that area. We need every tool in the battle to ensure that the air is cleaner around us, and hydrogen, once again, does offer something there. I think that we also need every tool when it comes to looking at the economic potential for Wales. In so many different areas, Wales is falling behind, in environmental areas too. Look at Ireland—with the Enterprise and Business Committee in the last Assembly, I was very jealous of the work that had been done on the 'Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth' report, looking at how to get the best out of marine energy and the economic benefit and environmental benefit that would come from that.

In the work that I’m trying to do on electric cars at present, I regret the fact that we are falling behind, where the rest of Britain is developing and investing a lot more in charging points and so forth for electric vehicles, where we were, a few years ago in Wales, talking of the possibility, as a small, flexible country, of being leaders in creating charging networks. At present, we only want to be part of the game. Where Wales has one charging point funded from the public purse for every 100,000 people, Scotland has one charging point for every 7,000 people. That’s the magnitude of the challenge before us, and I’m looking forward to going to Dundee before long, which is a city that’s doing amazing work in this area.

Yes, there are some people who evangelise about electric vehicles who turn up their noses at the possibility of developing hydrogen technology for cars. My argument then is that we need to look at every way of trying to ensure that we turn our modes of transport into very low-emission approaches, or those with no emissions at all. Certainly, in terms of commercial vehicles, buses and lorries, I think hydrogen energy now—not just in the future—offers potential. So, the appeal today is: please support this motion and let us realise that there is work being developed here in Wales that has the potential to create the kind of world and Wales that we are looking for.