The strategy we launch today marks the start of a genuine conversation we all need to have about how our transport networks need to change over the next generation, and when Members read the consultation documents, they will see they are the product of deep engagement with key stakeholders in the spirit of co-production that the future generations Act requires. The next step is an even wider conversation with the people of Wales, because we will only achieve change if people choose to change.

Over the last 50 years, we have created a transport system that has prioritised car use. It has allowed individual freedoms and flexibilities that we all value, but it has also locked in deep inequalities and environmental harms. We have created a culture of car dependency that will not be easy to change. Our draft strategy sets out to achieve accessibility and sustainability: more efficient movement of goods and people by tackling congestion; setting targets for modal shift to free up road space for more attractive public transport; and creating a system that doesn't just cater for those with cars, but also serves the 23 per cent of people in this country who have no access to a car.

Of course, it's not just about changing what we say; the imperative is about changing what we do. This means a fundamental change to the way we make transport decisions and investments. It means embedding a new sustainable transport hierarchy, to put provision for walking, cycling and public transport ahead of provision and investment for private motor vehicles. If that strategy is agreed, then we will need to set out specific projects and interventions in a detailed five-year national transport delivery plan. Today is about the overall direction.

Delivering on the vision we have set out will be challenging. It will require joined-up policies, not only within the Welsh Government, but from partners, too—in particular from local government who, if the Senedd agrees, will have a critical role, through corporate joint committees, to set out regional plans. We have discussed many times in this Chamber that Wales has not seen the level of investment in our rail network that our population and our share of network infrastructure deserve. The UK Government has a role in helping address this, and today I make an offer to work with them constructively as they seek to deliver on their commitment to level up the UK, if they, in turn, commit to respecting the devolution settlement.

We cannot achieve our aims without behaviour change, and that will require difficult political choices and strong leadership—not just at a Government level, but at a local level too. You, as Members of the Senedd, will have a critical role in helping to support some of the tough local decisions needed along the way. There are elements of this that will need to be drawn out in the fundamental, national debate that we now need to have. For example, what role might road user charging play? As we made clear earlier in the year, the Welsh Government has no fixed view on this yet. There is no secret plan in a desk drawer within Government ready for implementing road user charging, but we do have a responsibility to consider how it might be used to effect behaviour change in a fair, just and equitable way.   

As the Chancellor has indicated in recent days, the move away from fuel engines also means a move away from fuel tax, and we now need to work out how we fill the gap that will be left. As a first step in that debate, Dirprwy Lywydd, I am today placing in the Members' Library a report entitled, 'The Independent Review of Road User Charging in Wales', undertaken by Derek Turner. This suggests, as a first step, the development of a national framework for how road user charging decisions can be made, and I look forward to engaging with Members in more detail on this issue as we undertake the consultation.

There are those who say that the future is too uncertain to be making such plans, or that electric cars will solve all our problems, and I believe that such a laissez-faire approach is not an effective transport strategy for the twenty-first century. In fact, it is no strategy at all. It won't solve our congestion problems. It won't solve our air quality issues. It won't solve our obesity crisis. It won't make us a fairer nation. The new Wales transport strategy is a clear signal that, whatever tomorrow holds, the Welsh Government sees integrated and high-quality public transport as a vital and critical part of our future.

Dirprwy Lywydd, we stand at an important moment. Our climate is in crisis. New technology is disrupting the way we think about travel,  and coronavirus is severely testing the financial and economic foundations of public transport models. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to put public transport and sustainable transport at the heart of the Wales that we want to build, to put us on a new path. Diolch.