Citizens Assemblies

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:32 pm on 8 October 2019.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:32, 8 October 2019

Well, Llywydd, can I begin by congratulating Huw Irranca-Davies and those other Assembly Members who were involved in organising the event to which he referred, and particularly for the breadth of participation they achieved in bringing people together here at the Assembly? And of course the Welsh Government is keen to go on working with that wide range of citizens beyond the Assembly itself who have such a committed interest in climate change and making sure that, here in Wales, we are able to take the actions that fall to us in our time in order to respond to it. 

Next week's climate change conference will be a real opportunity to do that. As well as the workshops run by Extinction Rebellion, there is a specific strand for young people, who've made an enormous contribution to making sure that this matter is kept in the public eye, and who are part of the action to which Huw Irranca-Davies referred that is going on across the United Kingdom, and more broadly, today. 

We ought to welcome the fact that so many of our fellow citizens are so committed that they leave their own homes and take part in those protest actions, that they demonstrate their commitment in that practical way. Those people are to be congratulated and respected, not to be the target of the sort of language that Huw quoted. We look forward in Wales to go on having a purposeful relationship with all of those who want to make a contribution to tackling that major challenge of our time, to do it through citizens assemblies, but in many other ways as well, including our own Youth Parliament, and to draw people together to make that difference, rather than attempting to create division and to pretend that people who have a different point of view and want to make a different sort of contribution don't have the value that we know they do.