Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 1:32 pm on 2 December 2020.
Thank you, Presiding Officer, and I'm grateful for you offering consideration of the proposal for a motion to be taken today. I understand the balancing act that you as Presiding Officer have in deciding how to push these things forward. I do think it's a missed opportunity. I hear what you say about the Government bringing their motion next Tuesday for us to vote on, but this is a matter of considerable public opinion, and, certainly from my inbox, that opinion has been expressed very forcibly, I would suggest, in my electoral area. I look forward to seeing what the Government have to say next week and, as it's an amendable motion, look forward to amendments being put. But the First Minister did, in his statement yesterday, say that the opposition hadn't put any alternative proposals forward. Well, if we don't have the opportunity to debate, it's a little difficult to put those proposals forward, as a Government statement is for Ministers to be questioned on the statement they've put before this house. We are a Parliament, we are parliamentarians; if we're to be taken seriously, we should have the respect and we should have the opportunity to debate these issues and represent the people who put us here. But I am grateful for your consideration, Presiding Officer, and I do think it is the Government that has missed the opportunity here, and has, in this particular instance, in my opinion, shown disrespect to the Welsh Parliament.