Thanks to the Minister for bringing today's debate. I do take on board her assurance that this is a contingency measure, however, we in the Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party do not see the need to enact legislation to delay the election and we think we should focus on ensuring that the election does go ahead as planned on Thursday 6 May. I note again that the Llywydd does have the authority to delay an election by up to a month if the public health situation truly warrants that. But we do need to be careful here. The voters only elected us for five years and they may not be too delighted with Members of this place—including myself, of course—carrying on beyond their mandated term. Labour Members have been vociferous in making this point in the recent past, notably Alun Davies, who we just heard from. I know he is saying something slightly different now, but not so long ago, he was telling us that this Assembly term—the fifth Assembly—had already outstayed its welcome.

Delaying an election beyond 6 May would effectively be suspending democracy. So, we do have to be careful about going down this line. I think, although Alun supported the legislation today, he did actually just did raise some very pertinent questions, which the Minister still has to answer; for instance on what particular grounds the election may be delayed if we do get this legislation through. Because clearly, as the Minister was clear about when she opened the debate, this legislation does not itself delay an election; it on only gives contingency for doing so. So, she does need to explain to us on what particular and specific grounds the election might be delayed. I think we do need to know that.

There are other issues. This matter isn't completely within the control of the Welsh Government, because of the issue of the PCC elections going on at presumably the same time. The date for these is set by the UK Government, so we could be heading for a situation where the UK Government decide that we're going to have an election in Wales on 6 May, namely the PCC election. If that were the case, it would be ludicrous in my opinion if the Welsh Government then said we couldn't have the Senedd election on the same day, because to do that would be to have two different elections instead of one. It would also raise the cost of holding these elections, thereby wasting taxpayers' money. I know the Welsh Government is very good at doing that, but I don't think they should be doing it habitually. So, I think we have to take any decision in the context of what is happening with the PCC election, and that is a matter for the UK Government.

To make a more positive case, vaccination rates are improving in Wales, so it does look as though the worst of the pandemic may well be behind us by the time we get to May. So, to go down the route of deciding to delay may be interpreted as an admission of failure over the public health situation, which in reality is actually getting better. Can I also point out, adding to points Mark Isherwood made, that we have had this pandemic and various lockdown restrictions for many months now? So, the relevant authorities in Wales have had plenty of time to plan for this election. To conclude, we need to have this election on 6 May, and so, with respect, Abolish the Welsh Assembly will not be supporting this legislation. Diolch yn fawr.