Now, the term 'green new deal', of course, has its origins in Roosevelt's New Deal in 1930s America. And in the throes of the Great Depression, his New Deal had three aims: to provide relief for the poor, to provide economic recovery, and, of course, to reform financial systems so that economic depression wouldn't happen again. It was relief, recover, reform. And Congress subsequently invested in programmes that put the unemployed in work, and work that served a purpose to society, such as constructing roads, building schools, hospitals et cetera. And those underlying ideas are just as valid today. But first we have to resist that urge to cut spending—this can't be the start of austerity mark 2, because we know exactly what that means, and what the price is that people have to pay for that kind of approach. The green new deal has to see us invest, and invest specifically, of course, in projects that help tackle the climate and nature emergency.

And I would draw people's attention to a recent study from University of Oxford that compared green stimulus projects with traditional stimulus schemes, such as some of the measures taken after the 2008 global financial crisis. That research found that green projects actually create more jobs, they deliver higher short-term returns per pound spent by the Government, and they lead to increased long-term cost savings. And, of course, none of this has to wait. We have shovel-ready schemes out there now in Wales, be they energy efficiency programmes, which we've already touched upon, renewable energy projects—the Swansea bay tidal lagoon is an obvious example, with, potentially, subsequent projects around other parts of the Welsh coast as well—finally putting in place the electric vehicle charging networks that we need across Wales, redesigning roads for more active travel, flood protection, tree planting. Wales is ripe for that kind of investment.

Now, I'd like to say a few words as well about the food and drink sector in Wales, not just whisky, by the way, but the whole sector here. Because I think now is the time for us to rethink, to reset and to rebuild our food supply system in Wales, from the ground up. Over recent decades, we've allowed our food retail industry to become evermore concentrated, to a point where we now see just four companies controlling 70 per cent of the UK food retail market. And that concentration of power amongst a few large food retailers has given them unprecedented power to dictate ever-lower prices to farmers, continually sapping the financial health of domestic agriculture, and, of course, the wider rural economy. And as a result of this, our food security has actually worsened, with the UK now importing nearly 40 per cent of all the food that we consume. And that model is flawed. And it was already on a dangerous trajectory, even before COVID-19. And I haven't even mentioned Brexit, which gives us another imperative to drive the reshaping of our food system and to create greater resilience in the face of further uncertainty.

So, we need to focus anew on developing processing capabilities to add value to raw produce. We've seen the loss of abattoirs and dairy-processing plants, particularly here in north-east Wales in recent years, which means, of course, that hundreds of jobs have been lost, thousands of food miles have been added, and primary food producers have become even more exposed to global markets.

So, we need to move away from a just-in-time system to a just-in-case system, and by supporting the development of local processing capabilities, we need to start to decentralise food production. We need to make it fairer, we need to make it more sustainable, and subsequently, of course, help build a stronger local economy. But Government needs to make it happen, and if we learn one lesson from this pandemic, then it's that Governments can actually have a transformative effect, but only when they will it. And that transformation, of course, isn't just about economic growth, it's about tackling climate change, it's about equality, protecting livelihoods, putting an end to foodbanks, preventing suicides, being globally responsible—it's about all of that—and this is the moment to do it.