Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:56 pm on 22 September 2020.
I'd just like to put on the record that I believe we need to stop voting on these regulations weeks after they've been imposed. This is no longer a satisfactory state of affairs with the hybrid Plenary system we now have. The Minister himself alluded to some of the things we are voting on today in relation to raves, pilots in sports grounds, face coverings—these were all laid over a month ago, and here we are today waiting on another set of regulations that the First Minister isn't prepared to come and make a statement over.
Given the impact that these regulations are going to have on every walk of life, from the economy to potentially increased deaths from cancer and those linked to economic hardship, it's imperative that we have more timely debate on these regulations, and I do hope that the Government will subscribe to this. These have already been changed and amended in some areas, the regulations we have before us. We have near enough a lockdown in parts of south Wales, and yet, today, we are voting on regulations that were laid over a month ago. So, given that, I want to put the Government and the Minister on notice that we, as Welsh Conservatives, would like to see more debate and more challenge when these regulations are laid and this lag has to come to an end. We need to get more scrutiny on the regulations. Thank you, Presiding Officer.