I think this is an important debate, and we in the Welsh Conservative group will be enthusiastically supporting the motion.

Can I start by paying tribute to Peter Jackson, the highly respected journalist who first wrote about this story, in The Rugby Paper—it's not a very original title, but it was a very important story. [Interruption.] And it's a good paper, indeed. I think the key point here is the exclusion of joint bids. The BBC and ITV seem to be getting ready to make another joint bid, and a very valuable bid; of course, they outbid in the last round. But no reason has been given by Six Nations Rugby Ltd for the approach of now excluding joint bids. And it does seem to me that this is anti-competitive. There's also a remarkably quick timescale to these negotiations—they end this week. And it does smack of the whole process being forced and controlled.

We've already heard from a couple of speakers now that there is a real risk of losing millions of viewers behind a paywall, to generate millions of extra revenue. But what do you gain with that extra revenue if you've lost your grassroots, and the love of the game that is shared by so many in the population? And this seems to me something that really has to be reflected on.

Can I welcome the action of the Westminster committee on digital, culture media and sport, and their demand from Six Nations Rugby for an explanation of this situation? And the chair of that committee, Julian Knight, said, and I quote:

'We cannot allow this to be a deal done behind closed doors. Fans have a stake in this and a right to know what's going on.'

And I completely agree. There is something not right about this in the way its governance is being conducted. And this game is of huge importance culturally to us in Wales—it's a mass sport in Wales; it's not so much in England or in France, indeed. And I do believe that it's England and France that are driving this process and they, I think, will bitterly rue the day that they did that.

But I think that if the rugby authorities do act unreasonably, then the Government should consider making six nations rugby matches in the UK listed events. And I would say to the UK Government that there are some actions you must take to strengthen the union, and this will be one of them, recognising the strength of rugby in Wales, and therefore we must have a national, i.e. a UK approach to this regulation. Thank you.