Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 1:44 pm on 17 July 2019.
Well, with respect, the First Minister, in his legislative statement yesterday, made no mention of this at all. Given that we've only got about 18 months of this Assembly term left, it's quite clear that the Government will not be legislating in this particular area. And as I've said, given the urgency in this area—2,000 premature deaths; five a day—surely, that has to be one of the top priorities of the Government to make progress in this area.
But the other point that needs to be addressed here is that, obviously, all the announcements that Welsh Government have made this term, in particular around the climate emergency and the way that we're going to progress to zero carbon emissions by 2050—supported from these benches—require a dialogue with business and enterprise across the length and breadth of Wales. If you take Port Talbot steelworks, for example, 15 per cent of Wales's carbon emissions comes from Port Talbot steelworks. It's critical that businesses have confidence that the journey that they are going to have to undertake can be achieved and Government will be supporting them. Will you commit to launching an economic summit with Ken Skates, the economy Minister, to engage with business, call them around the table, so that a clear plan of action that is costed and understood can be brought forward, rather than the rhetoric that we're hearing from the protesters at the moment, which is saying that there just simply is not enough happening in this area and the battle for hearts and minds is in danger of being lost on this important agenda?