11. Debate: The Programme for Government Annual Report and Legislative Programme

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 8:07 pm on 9 February 2021.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 8:07, 9 February 2021

Dirprwy Lywydd, thank you very much. Can I thank Andrew R.T. Davies for his generous opening remarks? I know that he's put on record this afternoon his appreciation of the vaccination efforts that have been made by front-line workers here in Wales, and as I indicated, the Labour Party and the Government will support the first amendment that his party has laid to this afternoon's debate. I thank him for his support for this Government's decision to agree to the UK-wide effort for procuring vaccinations.

I share his regret that it has not been possible to bring forward a clean air Bill during this final year of this Senedd term, just as I regret the fact that the social partnership Bill hasn't been possible, that the tertiary education Bill hasn't been possible, and that many other important aspects of our legislative programme have had to be sacrificed because of the demands that coronavirus has placed on the resources of the Welsh Government, and on the resources of this legislature as well. 

Our commitment to a clean air Act is as strong today as it has been throughout. That is why we published the document we did—it was launched at the Eisteddfod in August—and why we have published a White Paper. It is a very clear down payment on our determination to bring that legislation forward if we are in a position to do so, and I look forward to his support when we do that. I wish we could have his support for pollution in the agriculture industry as well, but we know we're not going to get that, and people will draw their own conclusions.  

Adam Price, Llywydd, said he wouldn't reprise his contribution of earlier today before he went on to do so. When he couldn't say that our targets hadn't been met, he tried to argue that they weren't the right targets. I don't think that the 20,000 families that are now able to live in homes that otherwise would not have been available to them—decent homes, affordable homes, homes in every part of Wales—I don't think they would share the dismissive approach to that that he repeated for the second time this afternoon.

Can I thank Dawn Bowden for her support for the Welsh Government throughout the very challenging times of the last 12 months? Thank you to her, as well, for mentioning the twenty-first century schools and colleges programme, the biggest programme of renewing our education estate for 50 years—a programme unrivalled not simply in the devolution period but for 30 years before that. Of course she is right to point to all those other things that we are doing that will make such a difference in our Valleys communities. When she referred to the completion of the Heads of the Valleys road, that is the completion, again, of a project that has been a Labour project for the whole of the period of devolution, a project, as we know, bitterly attacked on the floor of the Senedd by Plaid Cymru as we move to its completion, but a project that will bring prosperity and new economic opportunity to those Valleys communities that this Labour Government has at the heart of what we believe to be important for the future of Wales. 

Thanks to Mick Antoniw, as well, for drawing that thread that has run through this Senedd term of restoring protections to people who otherwise would have had them robbed away from them. I look forward to publishing a draft social partnership Bill. We will do that before the end of this Senedd term. It will have aspects of it that we will wish to consult with our partners on. That's the nature of social partnership. That's how we want the Bill itself to be constructed, in partnership with our local government colleagues, our trade union colleagues and with public and private sector employers in Wales as well. If I look back over the last 12 months, then I think of the social partnership council as one of the core strengths that we have had to draw on in these most difficult days. That council has met every two weeks throughout the crisis. It has focused on some of the most difficult decisions that Governments have had to make. It has thrashed out some deeply controversial matters in a spirit of social partnership and the Bill will ensure that that uniquely Welsh way of transacting our public debate and discharging our public responsibilities will be underpinned by the force of law if we are in a position to bring that in front of a Senedd after the next election.

The report in front of the Senedd today reflects the most extraordinary period in our history. It demonstrates, if I could say so, not just the strength that we have here in Wales, the support we have from the public, the way we've been able to draw organisations together, but it has demonstrated the strength of the Senedd as well, the way in which this legislature has adapted to the ways in which we now have to work. It has found ways of scrutinising some of the most significant pieces of legislation that have ever been put in front of a legislature in the period of devolution. I thank all Members from all parties for the contribution that they have made to this extraordinary national effort. Of course we don't agree on everything, as Andrew R.T. Davies said, and nor should we, but when things have been at their most serious, the ability to come to the floor of the Senedd, to hear the debates, to gather the support we have needed—I think that that has demonstrated the strength of our devolved institutions as well as of the response we've been able to make here in Wales. In concluding this debate, I thank all those who have made a positive contribution to that enormous national effort.