On the face of it, I have no difficulty in endorsing and embracing point 1a) of this motion—why would I, why would anyone? However, I do think that the rest of point 1, and point 2, are worth questioning. Why does this motion refer to an international convention made in 1969 when the UK Government passed its own race relations Act in 1968, which has been reviewed over time? And the convention itself? It was, and presumably still is, administered by the United Nations—the same United Nations that is stained by the sexual abuse of those it apparently seeks to protect. So, I would actually want to distance Wales from this; it feels very tainted.

And let's look at the party moving this forward. The Government in Wales is, and has been since 1999 in some shape or form, Welsh Labour. And it's that party—the Labour Party—that has been the subject of a very recent EHRC investigation into antisemitism, and the party that has had 20 years to deal with many of these issues, although I accept that none of those levers are held in Wales. But also, the Plaid Cymru leader has remained completely and utterly silent on the antisemitic tweet made by a prospective candidate—the same person given a literal platform in the Senedd more than once here, and it's in the headlines again today. In fact, the Board of Deputies of British Jews have said this:

'Jews and anti-semites alike are likely to draw the conclusion that Plaid is willing to tolerate antisemitism in its ranks'.

So, we clearly do need some concrete commitments to anti-racism here and now.

And let me also highlight the use of the phrase 'BAME'. I find it very dehumanising and lazy. People are individuals, and there is a world of difference between somebody of Japanese descent and someone from the Gypsy/Traveller community. However, for brevity, I will use it for today's debate.

I've read the report compiled by the COVID-19 advisory group with some concern. I am most deeply disturbed by the reference to the maternal mortality in black women being five times that in white women. And this is common knowledge—again, the remit of Welsh Government and the Welsh NHS. If this is now an accepted statistic, how long has this been a thing and what are you doing about it?

The report is the report and I accept its findings and understand why the scope has widened to consider socioeconomic matters. To be completely honest, some of those findings with regard to loneliness, lack of opportunity, access to housing and so on could refer to rural Wales or to the people living in the Valleys, so I don't think many of these issues are solely confined to the BAME community. We didn't know what we were facing when the pandemic started. We know more now and we can use this growing body of knowledge and experience to inform better decisions going forward. I welcome in particular the recommendations made by the report, especially the risk assessment process for all staff.

I was attracted to aspects of the amendments tabled by Neil Hamilton and Neil McEvoy, and would like an explanation as to why they were deselected. My impression of the UK as a whole is that it is essentially a tolerant and respectful country. If not, why would so many people try so hard to come here and make their lives here? In fact, it took me some time to be accepted in my own rural community in Wales, being as I'm English, and it was only through my lambing experience and working on farms that I ever got the leeway with the Welsh people here and gained their respect. And I fully agree that the wrongs of many Governments over many decades should be righted forthwith in terms of Windrush.

While I appreciate that this report was written at a particular point in time, I find it a matter of great regret that it refers to the death of a career criminal on the other side of the world. As we now know, this was hijacked by a Marxist group whose members want to dismantle the state, the police and the family. And I doubt any of these aims would assist any of us, let alone members of the BAME communities.

So, in conclusion, yes, I agree wholeheartedly with the commitment to tackling racism of all kinds and inequalities of all kinds too. I don't believe that to do this you need to make a particular statement or endorse a particular set of promises made a very long time ago, but I do believe that some in this Chamber need to take a very long hard look at themselves before looking to others to live these values. Thank you.