Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. It's a sad day, I think, for the National Assembly, that this motion is being brought before it, because we were all elected on the same basis two and a half years ago, and we are all proxies for the people here, and the Standing Order that establishes the distribution of Chairs of committees, in the aftermath of the last election, I think, did properly represent the results of the election in May 2016. What we're going to do today, if this motion passes, is actually make a very considerable disturbance in that situation.

One of the things that's impressed me since I've been here is the non-partisan way in which committees operate, and I believe that every single Chair of a committee, even those with robust views that are very far from mine, like Mick Antoniw, have used their position as committee Chairs with scrupulous impartiality, and I think that that is very much to the benefit of this institution—that we can have violent arguments across the Chamber, but in committees, we can work together and co-operate and be collegiate as well.

In the course of the last couple of years there has been a change in the numbers in different groups: my own group has lost three Members, Plaid Cymru has lost two Members, the Conservatives have gained a Member, and others have become independents. So, the position is, at the moment, that Labour's got, according to the figures produced by the research staff, 29 Members and it has six Chairs. That's 48 per cent of all Members and it's got 50 per cent of the Chairs. That's a rough equality. That's quite acceptable. UKIP has got four Members, 7 per cent of the Members, and it has 8 per cent of the chairs—almost exact proportionality. Plaid Cymru on the other hand has got only 17 per cent of the Members, but 25 per cent of the Chairs. The Conservatives have got 20 per cent of Members and 17 per cent of the Chairs. So, yes, the Conservatives are slightly under-represented and Plaid Cymru are significantly over-represented. So, if, as the Standing Order says, the Business Committee should have regard to the need to ensure the balance of Chairs across committees reflects the political groups to which Members belong, it's quite clear that Plaid Cymru should be losing a committee Chair if the Conservatives are to gain one.

There is no argument in principle, whatsoever, for UKIP to lose its Chair, because let's just look at the Standing Order. How could the Business Committee and the Assembly ensure that the balance of Chairs across committees reflects the political groups to which Members belong when UKIP is a group, the implication is that we are entitled therefore to one committee Chair? It certainly does not in any way reflect the balance of groups to deprive one group of a single Chair so it has no representation amongst the Chairs. That is, I think, a fundamental undermining of the Standing Order. What we are seeing here, I'm afraid, today, is a shabby and squalid smash and grab by the Cardiff Bay consensus—the three bigger parties combining together in order to take away the Chair that I believe rightly belongs to us under the Standing Orders that we all voted for at the start of this Assembly. So, this is a case of the tyranny of the majority. We often have debates in this place where people make political points about bullying. This is in fact an instance of bullying. We're a small group. You've got the numbers. We haven't got the numbers. You are determined to take away from us that which is rightfully ours.