So, we'll move on to our next item of business, and that is to invite nominations for First Minister. But first, in accordance with Standing Order 12.11, the proposal is to bring forward nominations for First Minister. Does any Member object to this item of business? No, there are no objections, and therefore I will ask whether there are any nominations for First Minister. Rebecca Evans.

I nominate Mark Drakeford.

Thank you. Mark Drakeford is nominated. Are there any further nominations? There are no further nominations, and therefore, in accordance with Standing Order 8.2, I declare that Mark Drakeford is nominated for appointment as First Minister of Wales. In accordance with section 47(4) of the Government of Wales Act 2006, I will recommend to Her Majesty the appointment of Mark Drakeford as First Minister. I now invite Mark Drakeford to address the Senedd. Mark Drakeford.

Well, Llywydd, thank you very much, and thank you to all Assembly Members. And may I start by congratulating you and the new Deputy Llywydd on your election? And thank you, too, to Russell George and Hefin David for standing for those important roles within the Senedd. I would also like to congratulate all Senedd Members, particularly the newly elected Members; I look forward to working with you all over the next five years.

This has been an exceptional election. I'm very pleased that young people at 16 and 17 years of age have been able to vote for the very first time in this election, thanks to a law passed in this Chamber. And now, it's time for each and every one of us to use the mandate that we have to implement the ideas that we campaigned for in 'Moving Wales Forward'. And that is the starting point for my comments here today.

We are still in the midst of a pandemic that has cast such a dark shadow over our lives. It has stretched our health service and the people working within it. It has harmed lives and impacted on people's livelihoods. This Welsh Labour Government will continue to tackle coronavirus in the cautious way in which we have done so to date: by following the science and safeguarding the most vulnerable in our communities. And we will lead Wales to a recovery that will bring Wales to a fairer, greener recovery for all. Nobody will be left behind, and nobody will be held back. I make this pledge to this Senedd today in the first session of this new term: I will lead a Welsh Labour Government, but we will govern in a way that seeks consensus and will take account of new and bold ideas, wherever those ideas come from. Ideas that can lead to a better future for the people of Wales—from clean air, to a basic income, and to ensure that young people are not priced out of Welsh-speaking communities.

Llywydd, on all these matters, and others too, this will be a Government that listens and will work collaboratively with others where there is common ground to be found between us. And that determination to work with others extends beyond this Chamber, of course—to our partners in the public, private and third sectors across Wales, to communities and to people across our nation. We will deepen the social partnership we have developed over the last two decades by putting it into law, and use it to focus on recovery and the work we need to do to make Wales a place truly fit for future generations. And we will work in partnership with other Governments too, across the United Kingdom, wherever those relationships are conducted with parity of esteem and respect.

Llywydd, it's my job to stand up for Wales, and I will never stand back from doing so when the need arises, but my starting point will be to lead a Government that is constructive, engaged and a positive partner in meeting those challenges that don't and never have ended at our borders. And at all times, of course, I will be accountable to this Senedd and, through all of you, to the people of Wales. 

Llywydd, we are very fortunate, I believe, in this sixth Senedd, that, as you yourself said earlier, people in Wales have chosen to return Members here who this time share at least one fundamental thing in common, above all other things, and across all party divides. Everyone here, I believe, has a shared commitment to changing people's lives for the better, to realise the potential of this wonderful and unique nation, and to use this institution as a way of making sure that decisions that affect only people in Wales are made only by people who live in Wales. I look forward to working with you all over the five years that lie ahead. Diolch yn fawr.

Congratulations to the First Minister. Andrew R.T. Davies, leader of the opposition.

Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Could I begin by congratulating you on becoming the Presiding Officer for the sixth parliamentary term, and also David Rees on being the Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank the two other Members of the Senedd who made the vote happen, because I think it's important that democratic action sets the tone for how we want these proceedings to go on right the way through this sixth Assembly? Could I also thank everyone who allowed the election to happen or helped allow the election to happen? It was only two or three months ago that we were actually debating legislation that, with the COVID crisis, actually put in doubt whether we would have had an election, and a democracy does need to re-energise itself and become a reality. And it might seem a bit odd to say 'thank you', but it did happen, and it happened in a positive way that has returned an Assembly/Parliament here today with new Members, in my own group and across the Chamber, in particular, nearly a third of MSs are new Members to this institution, and that has to be a good thing.

I'd also like to congratulate Natasha Asghar, the first lady of colour to come into this Chamber, and I'm sure many will follow in her footsteps, just like her father as well. And we can be proud of the representation that's here, reaching out across the aisle, across all parties, to see the new blood that has come in along with the returning blood that generally has the best interests of Wales at heart.

We're an entrepreneurial and dynamic country, and we should never talk ourselves down, we should always talk ourselves up. And I believe that politicians of all colours can come together and work together, and I heard what the First Minister said about that consensus building. There will be differences between us, but there are areas where we will be able to work—the clean air Act, for example, the new national forest that you talk of in your manifesto, First Minister, also the national music service that you talk of, as well. On the legislation, the agricultural Act that you've talked of, as well, which is important for many rural communities. So, there are areas that we can work together on. There will be areas of confrontation, but we will be a constructive opposition, because it is vitally important, as we come out of COVID—and I use that word 'coming out of COVID', because we're very much still coming out of it, rather than looking back and forgetting about it.

There is a big job of work to do in education, in the economy and in the health service, in particular, which has been so battered, shall we say, over the last 12, 14 months, that many of the front-line workers have put heaven and earth to make sure that the health service has worked and met the challenge, and the staff on the front line desperately need the support of the Government, but politicians as well, so that we can make progress in eating into those waiting times and rejuvenating our education offer here in Wales, which, sadly, has been so disrupted and scarred over the last 12, 14 months, and continues to be, because, obviously, that education has been lost, and it is important that the Government come forward with their proposals in a timely manner—on the economy as well, because we know the challenges on the economy in particular with the furlough scheme coming to an end in the autumn, that all levers of Government are pulled to make sure that the Welsh economy pulls out of what has been a very brutal experience.

But we give our commitment as an opposition to work constructively where we can, but we will fulfil our duty as an opposition to hold the Government to account on its actions and seek to improve the legislation where we can. But there are two areas that I think desperately need mapping out by the First Minister, as he announces his Cabinet tomorrow. The First Minister has identified that he will only serve a limited term of office, two to two and a half years, and I think it's important that we as politicians, as well as the citizens of Wales, understand how that will affect the implementation of the manifesto and the work around the manifesto commitments. And secondly, with the announcement in Westminster of the COVID inquiry to start in the spring of next year, many people in Wales will want to understand what Wales's role will be in that inquiry, but importantly, about the development of an inquiry here in Wales. I look forward in the coming weeks to hearing that advice, that guidance that the Government are putting out there over the actions they will be taking on the economy, on education and health, and above all on making sure that Wales, at the end of this five-year term, collectively, by working together, is a better place than we started with, and we tap that entrepreneurial spirit, that dynamism that exists in all communities across Wales to unleash the potential that we know—this is the greatest part of the United Kingdom. Thank you, Presiding Officer.

Adam Price, leader of Plaid Cymru.

Thank you, Llywydd, and may I start by congratulating you on your election as Llywydd? It's good to see a member of Plaid Cymru winning at least one election this afternoon, but may I extend the same congratulations to David Rees, and, of course, I extend my warmest congratulations to Mark Drakeford on being confirmed as First Minister this afternoon? As I said following the result of the election, Mark Drakeford did secure a mandate to lead the Welsh Government for the ensuing period, and I would sincerely want to wish him well in dealing with the challenges and opportunities of the next months and years.

From a Plaid Cymru perspective, I'm very proud of the committed, energetic team that we have on our benches and joining us virtually today, of course, and the new and innovative ideas that they will bring to the sixth Senedd and to Welsh politics more generally. I want to take this opportunity too to pay tribute and to thank Leanne Wood, Helen Mary Jones, Dai Lloyd and Bethan Sayed for their work and public service over a number of years in serving their communities and Welsh democracy. The sixth Senedd will be poorer without them. I look forward to working with my fellow Members as we continue to build the case for independence and to continue to scrutinise constructively but robustly the Welsh Government's response to COVID as we recover from the pandemic. We will look for all opportunities to work in this Chamber and outside of it in order to implement our transformational programme and to be a voice for the hopes and aspirations of the communities that have elected us to represent them here.

It feels that we are returning to a Senedd that is more confident in its own skin. The Senedd elected does demonstrate that the people of Wales voted by a vast majority in favour of self-government and put its faith in a Welsh Government and a Welsh Senedd to make the important decisions about their lives, including keeping them safe and safeguarding their health. The First Minister stood on a platform that stated that the UK was over and that we needed far-reaching constitutional reform and reconstruction, with more powers to Wales. That's his mandate, and we will hold him to that commitment. Just yesterday, we saw Michael Gove rejecting the call for home rule, despite the vote of confidence from the people of Wales in this place. The Westminster attacks on devolution are only beginning. As the UK dismantles over ensuing years, we in Plaid Cymru are as convinced as ever that we need a new Wales, a united Wales, a free Wales, an equal Wales, where the future of Wales will be in the hands of Wales. And this is the real oath that we as Members of Plaid Cymru have taken in taking our seats in our national Parliament here.  

A Parliament that is perfectly balanced between Government and opposition makes political co-operation across party lines not just desirable but necessary, and we stand, in Plaid Cymru, ready to find common ground in the interests of the people who have elected all of us to this Senedd. We'll work with Government where possible, and with the opposition parties where necessary, in the sprit of a united Wales, where the things that unite us are often much more important, much more enduring, than the things that divide us. 

The First Minister has won a mandate for the continuation of his Government, but surely there is no mandate, and certainly there should not be a mandate, for the continuation of child hunger, for the continuation of homelessness, of food and fuel poverty, of poverty pay, of the crisis in housing, in social care and mental health. The result of the election has been a political status quo, but it cannot be—it must not be—a social status quo, an economic status quo. And surely that is, above all, true. The First Minister referred to future generations; we, uniquely amongst the nations of the world, have put the interests of future generations right at the heart of our politics and our constitution. It is the animating principle of our Government. And surely the one area where we cannot accept the status quo is child poverty—a moral stain, a moral stain on any nation, and certainly an advanced economy like ours in Wales, where almost one in three of our children are living in poverty. As a former leader of the Labour Party said recently, poverty for anyone is a scandal, but child poverty is a crime. So, can we all make a declaration, across party lines, that we will work together to end and abolish this crime in Wales?

And I urge the First Minister—. And, unconventionally, I paid tribute to him many times throughout the election, because I honestly believe in his sincerity. When he talks about being radical and ambitious, I want him to succeed. I genuinely want him to succeed. And can I urge him—can I urge him to look across the Atlantic at the moment, to look at the Biden Government, which is electrifying, I think, in its commitment to showing how politics can be the vehicle for transformational change? He has set the goal, my goodness me, of halving child poverty within a year in the United States of America. And he has—. There are echoes of the Great Society of LBJ and FDR's New Deal. That's the politics of radical ambition that Wales is calling out for, and that's the leadership that we need from the new Government of Wales—not hesitation, not half steps. Change is going to happen anyway, whether it's automation or climate change. We must set our own positive change in the agenda that we will see in the heart of our politics here in Wales. There is a supermajority for self-government in this Senedd, and that's something to celebrate. Let's build a supermajority too for social justice and economic progress. If the First Minister and the new Government puts that at the heart of its politics, then it will find on these benches a party that is willing to support not just the end, but also the means.

That brings our business for today to an end. There's five years' worth of business to continue from today, and it has been good to see you all in this Chamber and those of you on Zoom as well, and if I can just say to you, those of you on Zoom, it's great to see a screen full of Zoom participants without a bookshelf in sight.

So, good afternoon to you all.

The work starts here.

Thank you, all.

The meeting ended at 17:06.