Diolch, Llywydd. It's not a secret that we believe that there should be a ban on no-fault evictions, and the amendments that we've tabled today reflect this position. Our amendments in this group are based on the Scottish model, which bans no-fault evictions but does allow evictions in a limited number of circumstances. The reason for using the Scottish approach is not because we think that that approach is perfect, although it is considerably better than the approach proposed today, but it's because if we went for a complete ban, considering what's been said at previous stages, I suspect the Minister would argue that this would risk being incompatible with human rights laws. Personally, I think evicting and making people homeless for no reason would itself be a violation of human rights, but, unfortunately, people who are homeless lack the financial resources to establish lobby groups for all parties and also to take the Government to court. So, instead, we have lifted the Scottish model, which, of course, has been in law for a number of years and therefore it is reasonable for us all to assume that that would be compatible with human rights law. It would significantly strengthen the rights of tenants and bring us far closer to ending no-fault evictions. At Stage 2, the Minister explained that the grounds may be too narrow and prevent a landlord from reclaiming their property if they fell outside these grounds. So, that is why the amendment gives the Minister the power to modify the grounds.

Speaking more generally, I want to outline my group's approach to the legislation. That is, we do not believe the Government has got the balance right between the rights of tenants, often the poorer party, and landlords, which is the group with the historic lobbying power. There hasn't been enough movement from the Government on this, at least not movement in the direction we would like to see. There was, of course, a pledge made by the First Minister for a total ban on no-fault evictions, but this has been watered down to merely increase the notice period required from two to six months. That's considerable movement towards the position of landlords and is, I'm afraid, a reflection of the power imbalance in terms of different groups and their access to understanding these issues and being able to lobby for change. It remains our understanding that the UK Government intends to ban no-fault evictions in England, but they've postponed that legislation due to the pandemic. Nonetheless, it means that passing this legislation today would leave Wales as the outlier. The rights of tenants in Wales would be the weakest, and that is a position my group cannot support.

In any other circumstances, we might at least consider this slight movement to be worth while, but the pandemic, to all intents and purposes, means that we are discussing here what the legal regime will be post pandemic. So, whatever happens this afternoon won't in practice impinge on tenants' rights at the moment, in the short term. However, in the longer run, passing this Bill would be damaging, as it would inevitably delay the changes we would want to see implemented. As such, without significant movement from the Government today, we will be voting against the Bill and seeking to introduce a far stronger Bill, should we be successful in forming the next Government. That would be a fairer approach for all, setting out our clear intention to bring forward our own legislation rather than accepting what is being offered here. I look forward to the debate. Diolch yn fawr.