Paul Davies opened for us by emphasising that the coronavirus pandemic is both a public health and economic emergency, with high numbers of employees furloughed in Wales, the threat to jobs and the need to understand the challenges facing businesses, especially small and medium businesses. He talked about the structural inequalities in Wales that haven't been tackled by the Welsh Government over more than two decades. He talked about the lack of clarity in support for the tourism sector and called for a recovery plan to be agreed with the tourism sector and with public transport providers.

Helen Mary Jones said that Plaid don't oppose our call for a COVID community recovery fund and then said that it's not just about going back to where we were before, and we agree, and therefore, hopefully, you can support our proposal. She also, I regret, illustrated why we shouldn't take lessons on the economy from Plaid Cymru. 

Janet Finch-Saunders talked about the numbers claiming unemployment benefit doubling during this crisis. Conwy have the highest percentage of jobs at risk in Wales. She was grateful to the UK Government for the financial support it's provided for Welsh business and said the Welsh economic dragon needs to be enabled to roar again.

Jenny Rathbone talked about this not being the time to be untying the links with the UK Government, about the need to bring people back into town centres and protect both vulnerable businesses and arts and cultural facilities. Russell George talked about the damage caused by the Welsh Government's disunited approach to unlocking lockdown, from estate agents to Laura Ashley. He said Wales can't afford to fall further behind the rest of the UK, and concluded that the future of Wales belongs to the brave. David Rowlands talked about the threat to Valleys towns, Angela Burns about the need for clear focus and leadership as we move forward, and the need to replace years of Welsh Government rhetoric with real action on building a green economy, and she said, if green is the future, hospitality businesses are the here and now. Economy Minister Ken Skates pointed out that the public health crisis is not over yet—no dispute. He welcomed UK Government support schemes, but spoke of the need for them to avoid duplication with Welsh Government schemes, when, in reality, of course, it's the Welsh Government that needs to avoid duplication with UK schemes. He then provided us with the usual long list of Welsh Government schemes of past, present and potentially future.

The Welsh Government's delay in the reopening of the economy has been damaging to the fragile Welsh economy. Take passenger transport, where the industry presented a proposal to the Welsh Government on 15 May that would enable operators to ramp up bus services with full costings, but they've still not received a considered official response and Wales is now the only country in the UK that has not agreed funding for transport operators to begin to ramp-up services to cover costs for additional services.

Take our bed-and-breakfast sector: in England and Scotland, grants are available to bed-and-breakfast operators who didn't qualify for any other COVID-19 grant support schemes. In Wales, however, legitimate bed-and-breakfast businesses have been denied access to equivalent grants. As one affected business asked me today: 'This was our main and only income. Could you inform Ken Skates, Mark Drakeford and other Ministers in the Welsh Labour Government that we're now at breaking point, physically, mentally and emotionally?' This is disgraceful.

Take our crucial housing market: the Welsh Government has failed to open the housing market in Wales alongside the rest of UK, where the rest of UK is taking sensible precautions to protect everybody. Take dental practitioners: in England, they've reopened with strict rules, but, in Wales, they've told me that the health Minister's written response to me last week can only be described as spin, and that most of the Welsh Government statements from last week were undone rapidly over the weekend by further backtracking statements and a change of process.

Take holiday let businesses: the Welsh Government has announced that self-catering businesses could reopen on 13 July, as long as they adhere to the Government guidelines. A decision will be taken about this on 9 July, and the economy Minister Ken Skates told  north Wales media that comprehensive guidance has been put in place for the tourism and hospitality sector to ensure that the sector can be restarted in a safe way. But self-catering businesses are telling me, 'I've just spoken to our council and they don't have the guidance,' and asking, 'What are the guidelines and where do I find them?'

And finally, take our town centres. The Centre for Towns found that Wales is the worst-performing area of the UK with regard to its economic well-being, and that specific communities, including ex-industrial towns in parts of Wales, will need an effective support mechanism at a local level to support businesses to plan their recovery strategies, echoing the work of the Carnegie Trust.

Taking all this together, I commend this motion and urge everybody to support it, recognising that this pandemic is both a public health and an economic emergency. Diolch yn fawr.