I'm also very pleased to have been able to put forward this motion jointly with the Labour Government and the Conservative Party. Plaid Cymru has long championed the devolution of air passenger duty to Wales, and it is pleasing to see now, at last, that there is a consensus building here—certainly also the consensus that we saw reflected in the report by the House of Commons Welsh Affairs Select Committee. It is 10 years on since the Holtham report proposed this as a sensible measure. This would, as we've already heard, be the last major proposal to be enacted from the Silk commission, so the time is right, and it is baffling, in many ways, why blocks are still being put in the way of devolution. I think Stephen Crabb, when he was Secretary of State for Wales, said there were too many uncertainties and concerns about APD to get a decision through the then Prime Minister, David Cameron, and the Chancellor. Yes, uncertainties and concerns—not about Wales, it seems.

It has again been baffling to see the Secretary of State for Wales—in whose constituency Cardiff Airport is—seemingly batting for Bristol Airport, earning him the title of the Secretary of State for the west of England. And we have heard plenty of evidence to say that this wouldn’t be about disadvantaging Bristol—and there is no strong evidence to suggest that Bristol would be at a disadvantage—but that in fact it would be advantageous to Cardiff. And that is what we are interested in here. And not just Cardiff Airport, but Anglesey Airport—Maes Awyr Môn—in my constituency. We should be looking at this in the round.

There are obvious environmental concerns about the direction of travel for air travel in general. There have been plenty of reports suggesting that we will still see a huge increase in air travel globally—much of it driven by growth in Asia. But I was reading today a report saying that there will be changes in patterns of air travel that won’t necessarily be about driving up air passenger numbers, but would be about cleverer ways of people using air travel as a mode of transport, where the hub-and-spoke networks that we have been used to, and the growth of the major airports—the Heathrows of this world—will, if not give way entirely, see a shift towards more point-to-point travel with smaller, more efficient long-haul aircraft being able to make the journeys from city to specific city, and region to specific region, including, of course, Cardiff and Wales, and the advantages that can come from that.

So, I am pleased that we are jointly tabling this. We shouldn’t have to. In a situation where Scotland already has seen APD devolved, when Northern Ireland has APD devolved, it seems to me that the barriers are there to stop Wales in some way gaining that kind of advantage that could come from the devolution of something that is very much in the spirit, I think, of devolution and the direction of travel for devolution as a whole, and a proposal that has been made now in a number of highly respected reports, from Silk back to Holtham. So, let us today make that statement that we believe the time is not just right, but is overdue for us to take this step. It is in our interests as we look for ways of optimising the Welsh economy. It is not about trying to disadvantage others.