We know there is considerable public support for a new clean air Act. The Welsh Labour Government has previously rejected calls for a clean air Act, but during the Labour Party leadership contest in Wales the First Minister Mark Drakeford committed in his manifesto to, I quote: 

'Develop a new Clean Air Act to ensure that our children can go to school, be active and play outside safely without fear of respiratory problems, such as asthma, because of pollution levels in some of our towns and cities.'

Unquote. Leaders and mayors of cities across the UK have shown their support for legislation in this area, including Cardiff council’s leader. Healthy Air Cymru have also done a phenomenal job in bringing this issue towards the top of the political agenda. And, let's not forget, the Tory UK Government and Labour Welsh Government have been taken to court for not doing enough to tackle air pollution, and been found guilty, and we cannot let this go on any longer.

So, what would a clean air Act look like? As well as enshrining World Health Organization air quality guidelines into Welsh law, a clean air Act could also mandate the Welsh Government to produce a statutory air quality strategy every five years. It could provide a statutory duty on local authorities to appropriately monitor and assess air pollution and take action against it. It could introduce a 'right to breathe', whereby local authorities are obliged to inform vulnerable groups when certain levels are breached. This should be delivered through a comprehensive cross-governmental air quality strategy that includes provision for an independent monitoring and assessment network; a national advisory board on air quality, chaired by the Minister for the Environment; the introduction of clean air zones in our cities; a requirement on local authorities in conjunction with local health boards and public services boards to prepare a clean air plan, based on data from the independent monitoring and assessment network, with adequate control measures identified and acted upon; a requirement that every local authority develops a walking and cycling strategy with targets to decrease the percentage of journeys by private car.

Now, South Wales West is particularly affected by air pollution, as well as the city of Swansea, because of its geography being in a bowl, with ozone levels, so Swansea has got particular pollution levels. It regularly suffers air quality issues. We also have, obviously, the industrial area of Port Talbot with its unique challenges as well.

Now, many years ago, we were willing as a society to suffer water that wasn’t clean. We still do in many parts of the world suffer water that isn't clean. Now, you wouldn’t suggest any situation where we should put up with water full of impurities today, but in Swansea and Port Talbot we are putting up with air that is full of impurities. We need a major change of attitude and national leadership from Government. We know that there's a real link with poverty, because there are five times more carcinogenic emissions emitted in the 10 per cent most deprived wards in Wales than the 10 per cent least deprived areas of Wales, as the wealthiest people may well afford to live in areas that have trees and parks, whereas the less well-off congregate in housing that directly faces onto the street where there's no barrier between you and the pollution emitted by cars.

So, what about solutions to support a clean air Act? I'm trying to help Government out here. Plaid Cymru wants the sale of diesel and petrol cars to be phased out by 2030. Follow Copenhagen and cities and countries in western Europe that are implementing bans—bans on sale and bans on fossil-fuel-only cars entering cities. Public transport: we need to make sure that we have a proper integrated transport system in Wales. In areas such as Port Talbot and Swansea, there is much further to go on this front. We hear of bus subsidies being slashed locally, fares going up, services slashed—is it any wonder that people are using their cars and adding to the poor air quality? We need to set targets for lower emission vehicles—taxis, as they’re doing in London, buses, council refuse lorries and other public service vehicles—and a clean air Act could help deliver that. Set targets for lower emission vehicles.

We could set a default 20 mph speed limit as a national policy, right across Wales, which would then be the starting point for local authorities. They could exempt certain roads from that blanket policy for valid and particular reasons, but 20 mph would be the starting point. That would help create more cycle- and walking-friendly urban environments that would facilitate people feeling safe and secure to cycle from their homes and connect up with a new cycle network under the Active Travel (Wales) Act 2013. There is a whole array of actions that can be taken, underpinned by law.

So, in conclusion, I would like to thank Healthy Air Cymru, first of all. That's a collaborative group of organisations. We've met with them individually and as a cross-party group now on the clean air Act, and the members of that organisation, Healthy Air Cymru, are the British Heart Foundation, British Lung Foundation Cymru, Friends of the Earth Cymru, Living Streets Cymru, the Royal College of Physicians and Sustrans Cymru. I thank them all for their fantastic work and for informing this debate, but primarily for the fantastic work that they do in this field. Now, they're all doing their part—what we need now is action from the Welsh Government. The morbidity and mortality figures demand urgent action: 2,000 unnecessary deaths in Wales per year. That is dramatic, and it needs countering. This is a major public health crisis, and a cavalier attitude to air pollution has persisted for far too long in this country, and must be consigned to the past. Diolch yn fawr.