Diolch, Llywydd. It's a pleasure to be responding to this debate this afternoon. It's an incredibly important subject, and I'd like to thank all Members for their contributions today. As Members were informed just last week, and as we have debated here today, the First Minister decided not to proceed with the M4 corridor around Newport project, otherwise known as the black route. The reasons for that decision and the important next steps were presented in my written statement.

The First Minister and I have been very clear indeed in those statements and decisions that we remain absolutely committed to addressing the problems of congestion on the network in south-east Wales. In the short term, I've asked my officials, working with partners in the Cardiff capital region and Newport City Council, to bring forward a suite of measures to provide modest but immediate benefits to the road. As I've also stated, I'm appointing an expert commission to make recommendations on the next steps for the transport network in south-east Wales, and the terms of reference of the commission were published alongside my statement—[Interruption.]—I'm very tempted to. I have carefully considered the question of whether the national infrastructure commission should have been tasked with this particular piece of work, but, Llywydd, I judged that this significant and immediate piece of work may prevent them from moving ahead with other crucially important pieces of work that must be considered in our long-term interests. That said, I am keen that they have input into the work of the expert commission.

I'm pleased that Lord Terry Burns will chair the commission, and I spoke to Lord Burns on Monday of this week and said to him the commission should be able to consider all solutions, but that they must take into account the reasons for the First Minister not proceeding with the black route. And I will, Llywydd, ensure that the commission considers the solution that was kindly shared with us today by David Rowlands, together with any other viable proposals from Members in this Chamber. I expect an interim report within six months of the commission's formation, but I've been very clear in saying that the chair should be able to bring forward viable suggestions that can be delivered in the short term between now and the end of those six months if he feels that they could be delivered.

The First Minister has already been clear that the recommendations put forward by the commission will have the first call on funding set aside by the Welsh Government to resolve the issues that we see on that part of the network. But we've also been clear with Members that those solutions must represent good value for money. And it will be for the commission to consider all solutions. We will not be entertaining any pet projects, as I said in my written statement, outside of the commission's work. Now, whilst there will always be competing demands for funding, we are clear that delivering sustainable solutions to the significant challenges along this transport corridor is a top priority, and I can assure Members that the development investment since 2013 will not be wasted and will be put to good use by the commission, making sure that it is fully informed in terms of transport modelling, environmental surveys and all other factors in play across the region.

I have to say to Members, anybody who has read the report could only conclude that the blue route should not be considered at all. The blue route was absolutely trashed in the inspector’s report, and I really don't understand how Members who claim to support a climate emergency could support the blue route, or indeed how Members who oppose the spending of £1 billion on the black route could support the spending of £1 billion on the blue route. [Interruption.] I’ll give way in a moment, but first of all, I’ll just say, for the benefit of the Member, if he hasn’t yet had the opportunity to read the report and the inspector’s decisions in regard to the blue route, on page 460 he concluded that, at 2015 prices, the blue route would not be £350 million, but £838 million, meaning that it would be considerably higher still in 2019 prices. On the very same page he outlines why the blue route would have a negative or very low benefit-cost ratio, in contrast to the black route’s 2:1 BCR. On page 459, he says the blue route would be inadequate, be unsustainable, would perpetuate avoidable carbon burn and local air pollution, and that the blue route would be severely deficient in terms of offering relief to the motorway, both in the short or long term, and would thereby be unsustainable. The inspector also said about the blue route that it would have involved building an elevated urban expressway close to where people live and burdening still further an important distributor road. It would have caused dreadful damage for 3,600 families, and it should have been given no further consideration. I’ll give way.