13. The Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Order 2020

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:36 pm on 3 November 2020.

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Photo of Llyr Gruffydd Llyr Gruffydd Plaid Cymru 6:36, 3 November 2020

(Translated)

As we've heard, this Order has been published in isolation, to all intents and purposes. It's supposed to be a package of five pieces of legislation feeding into a common framework and that should be seen alongside this concordat that is to be agreed on how Governments are to come together to make it work. Now, asking us to pass this Order today without us having seen the Order in that broader context, with all the other pieces of the jigsaw, to me, is a mistake. And, of course, that is something that we were told that we would see before we made the decision. But as we've heard from the Chair of the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee and the Chair of the climate change committee, we've had to make that decision without having seen the common framework, which, to me, is an error.

As a result of that, of course, we don't have clarity on which decision-making processes will be in place across the four nations in the future. We don't have sufficient clarity as to how any dispute will be resolved in the longer term. And I think the fact that the Minister referred, in her opening comments, to a pro tem arrangement speaks volumes on the relationship between the Governments in jointly developing the programme we have before us today. There's no clarity as to where the money will go—where will the revenue go? Will it go back to the Treasury in London, as is currently the case, or will there be an industrial decarbonisation fund, as the Minister is eager to see? And, if the money is shared across the UK, how will that be done? We don't know if it will be, but if it were, how would it be done? There are so many fundamental questions that remain unanswered.