Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:58 pm on 30 April 2019.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:58, 30 April 2019

Llywydd, I don't believe that the declaration of climate emergency is a new policy for this Government or, indeed, for this National Assembly, because I think that the environmental principles that have been important across this Chamber and across the period of devolution are summed up in that decision. Of course the decision to declare an emergency is meant to galvanise action; of course it is meant to draw attention to the emergency; of course it is meant to make sure that Wales is positioned where we would wish to see Wales positioned, which is at the leading edge of the social movement that is developing around the world on this matter, but I don't believe that it represents a sharp difference in policy. It sums up the significance and the importance that we have attached to the environment, ever since the sustainable development principle was introduced into the founding legislation of this National Assembly. And that's why we decided to do it yesterday: because we wanted to make sure that we remained consistent with and true to the history that we have developed in this institution and then to use that to go further still.

So, my colleague Lesley Griffiths has been seeking further advice on the targets that we have announced so far to see whether there is more that we could still do. I know that that advice is expected to be received on Thursday of this week and that the Minister will be meeting directly with those who have provided that advice, and we will then see whether there is even more that we can do, building on the 100 actions in the low-carbon plan that we published in March, to do even more to play our part in dealing with, as I said in my answer to Leanne Wood earlier, what may be the single greatest threat to human beings that we have ever faced.

I hope—and I'll say it again: I hope that, if we are to make the impact that we want to make, then where we share a sense of the urgency and where we share a sense of the necessity to galvanise action within Government and beyond that we will work together across the Chamber to create that new sense of urgency that is needed in our society. If we do it that way, then we will have a better chance of being able to address the problem than if we treat it as some sort of party political matter.

As far as the M4 relief road is concerned, then Adam Price is right that I've said today—I've set out, as I promised I would, the decision-making timetable for the M4. In the end, the purdah issue became irrelevant. I received further advice yesterday, which will lead to questions that I will need to explore with officials. So, there is further advice and further meetings that will need to happen over the next few weeks. Then there will need to be the legal documentation drawn up to support whatever decision I come to. Members here will know, as Adam Price said, that the M4 relief road is an inherently controversial topic, and whatever decision is made is vulnerable to potential legal challenge, so the legal documentation to support that decision has to be in the best possible order. All of that will take another small number of weeks, but I'm now confident that I will be in a position to make that decision in the first week after the Whitsun break and that it will be announced here, on the floor of the National Assembly.