Plaid Cymru will vote against the main regulations to establish the corporate joint committees today. I would call on all Members to do likewise. Plaid Cymru does believe that Welsh governance for the future should continue to include local, regional and the national and agrees that we need the right structures in place to support effective decision making at the right level, with democratic accountability for the people the structures serve.

Any change needs to happen as part of a clear vision for the governance of Wales in its entirety in order to deliver specific principles, and unfortunately, I don't think that that's the case here—principles such as transforming public services, connecting all communities in Wales, ensuring that we get the best benefit from taxpayers' money and avoiding duplication. Unfortunately, this isn't a plan for the long term, but an unacceptable attempt to rush far-reaching change through the Senedd with just a week to go of our mandate, during a pandemic, without any clear vision seeming to be a foundation for these changes.

Clearly, because of COVID, the whole process has happened with haste, and the primary legislation enabling the introduction of the corporate joint committees came into force in January whilst the majority of the bodies delivering public services affected by this were fighting the worst wave of the pandemic. There has inadequate consultation, and that's been harshly criticised by local authorities, and also civic society, as has already been set out. They're all concerned about the impact of the undemocratic changes.

There's an expectation for the regulations to come into force—if they are passed by the Senedd—on 1 April when this Senedd will no longer be sitting. The purpose of elections is to allow people to make their own decisions, so, clearly, I would say that the appropriate thing to do would be to allow the parties to put forward their vision for Welsh governance before the people of Wales, so that the people can decide whether they agree. Voluntary collaborative working, of course, is something that's very important, and it has been happening for a number of years in Wales, to various extents and with various success, but the changes proposed here are far-reaching, as we've heard. It creates new entities that can employ staff, as Laura Jones has set out, including chief executives and senior staff, it can hold assets, and it would mean a major change in the landscape of Welsh governance. 

But it's not only in terms of the deficiencies of the process and a lack of vision that I would oppose, basically because of the substance here too, because it's a plan that will clearly be very expensive. I would say that it would be a waste of that money, in addition to problems in terms of a democratic deficit. In north Wales, for example, the Minister has confirmed that there will be two regional structures running side by side for economic development responsibilities of the ambition board, which was established by the UK city deals and the corporate joint committees. I just don't see how that could make sense.

The pandemic's demonstrated that we can't place our confidence in powers that are a long way away from us—and this point has been made already, and this has engendered very strong feelings, I think. Because of the objections of local people in terms of the transfer of power that's going to happen, I would say that it's more important for us not to follow a Westminster map, which continues to make us reliant on the crumbs from someone else's table, rather than linking communities and delivering the potential of our own nation.

I would close, Deputy Llywydd, by saying that I am hopeful that these regulations will be removed as quickly as they come into force, as the Welsh Government would replace them immediately and look to raise the nation, rather than further divide it.