Both short and long-term exposure to ambient air pollution can lead to a host of conditions—reduced lung function, respiratory infections, aggravated asthma to name just three. Maternal exposure to ambient air pollution is associated with adverse birth outcomes, low birth-weight, for example, pre-term births, small for gestational age births. Emerging evidence also suggests that ambient air pollution may affect diabetes and neurological development in children. It's the cause of many cancers, and some air pollutants are also linked to psychiatric conditions. The effects of air pollution disproportionately affect people in deprived areas, and, unfortunately, the policy responses have often suggested that this is not understood. We're still waiting for a clean air Act. I'm not sure at this point in time whether the Government intends to deliver the commitment made by the First Minister in his leadership campaign to have such an Act.

We are disappointed to see the wording used by the Government in amendments 1 and 3 in front of us this afternoon. Most of Wales doesn't have air quality monitoring, and it's well highlighted that the modelling used is inaccurate. A quote from Professor Paul Lewis, esteemed professor from Swansea University, noted that there's no detail in the clean air plan at all as to what a national air pollution monitoring network would do, and it might not actually lead to any significant increase in monitoring: it's likely that, rather than invest in technology, they'll just work with the modelling company to improve the models—currently having a 30 per cent error rate—to predict air pollution levels across Wales.

My colleagues will elaborate further on why we in Plaid Cymru believe the current response is completely inadequate, and, I dare say, complacent. We will, however, support the Conservative amendments in front of us today, as they add to the motion, we believe, and are constructive.

Of course, this isn't a problem in any way confined to Wales. We're talking about a global issue. We might, for example, note that over 1.5 million people—1.5 million people—will die each year in China because of air pollution, and this somehow appears to be considered normal, perhaps inevitable. Let's contrast that with the measures that have, quite rightly, been taken to mitigate the spread of Coronavirus. In this case, the interests of industry, of the economy, have taken, quite rightly, second place to the priority of containing a very real threat to public health. But when it comes to environmental problems that cause a big threat to public health—and climate change is the obvious big one here—the scale of inaction really is quite telling.

The point is: let's imagine if we took pollution to be as serious a threat as a virus. We would be solving the problem almost overnight, I believe. But, instead, we're really not seeing the culture change we need in a number of areas—in the planning system, in budgeting processes and wider attitudes within Government—that suggest that we're taking this as seriously as we ought to. It still seems that, too often, there's a conflict between economy departments, say, and everybody else, that views pollution somehow as a necessary phase of economic growth. Surely, if we're not at the end of that way of thinking, we're rapidly, rapidly approaching it.

I'll finish with this quote from a recent Lancet report on pollution:

'The claim that pollution control stifles economic growth...has repeatedly been proven to be untrue.'

Pollution actually costs the economy in terms of lost productivity and spending on the consequences of it. Unfortunately, the industries responsible for pollution are also highly effective at public relations, lobbying and pressuring the media to create the impression that pollution control is bad for growth. But studies of the impact of clean air regulations in the US suggest otherwise.

We know, don't we, deep down, that we have to change? We know surely, Welsh Government, that action has to be taken and that we need an Act. Surely it's now time to quit our addiction to poor air.