In addition, many of our communities suffer from depopulation, yet we continue to see luxury homes being built. Certainly, the market is not meeting any local demand. If the free market is meeting demand, then why are there 67,000 people on waiting lists for social housing in Wales? The free market is working against the people of Wales—that's the truth.

Now, while the Conservatives are promoting the ideology of laissez faire, the real laissez-faire party in Wales, the party that implements that ideology, is the Labour Party, which has done very little to intervene in the market over the past 20 years. This is the legacy of New Labour and its 'light-touch regulation', which is still alive and well here in Wales.

The most obvious example of this lack of intervention in my constituency, in Dwyfor Meirionnydd, and in countless other communities across Wales, is the issue of second homes and the increase in short-term holiday accommodation, such as Airbnb. Now, the majority of people brought up in these communities, such as Mumbles or Tenby or Brecon or Capel Curig, have now been priced out of the local housing market. Indeed, half of the people in post-industrial communities like Blaenau Ffestiniog have been priced out of the local housing market.

According to research by Dr Simon Brooks, while the pandemic has made things worse, there is a real danger that leaving the European Union can make things worse still. He warns that a percentage of the 70,000 owners of second homes in France, or the 66,000 owners of second homes in Spain, may look to buy a property here. According to last year's land transaction statistics, just under half of the houses sold in my constituency of Dwyfor Meirionnydd were higher rate properties. Now, while there are several definitions of what a higher rate property is, in the case of Dwyfor Meirionnydd, it means second homes, mainly. That is the level of challenge facing our communities today.

Over the last year, we have seen wealthy buyers paying well over the asking price in cash, driving up property values and ensuring that local people, who are generally on low pay, do not have an opportunity to buy in their locality. Wales indeed saw the largest increase in property values over the past year, with house values shooting up 13 per cent on average, with some areas, such as Carmarthenshire, seeing an increase of nearly 23 per cent, and Anglesey seeing an increase of 16 per cent. This is completely unsustainable.

Of course, in discussing this problem in Wales, we have to recognise that this is a problem across the western world. Indeed, Aotearoa has taken steps to prevent non-citizens from buying property there. So too have Denmark and Austria, which have strict rules about who can buy property in those countries. Regional legislatures in Australia, Canada and Italy have acted on the issue of second homes, while the local governments of Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin and others have taken steps to act on short-term holiday accommodation, such as Airbnb. But we have not yet seen any action here in Wales.

We in Plaid Cymru have set out the actions that should be considered. Recently, Gwynedd, Anglesey, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire county councils wrote to the First Minister calling for amendments to section 66 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, so that any dwelling is defined as a dwelling and is therefore liable for full council tax. We've called for amending the town and country planning Order to include an additional use class for short-term holiday accommodation, such as Airbnb, and have called for introducing a mandatory licensing scheme for short-term holiday accommodation, which would be the responsibility of the local authority to implement. These are measures that can be implemented quickly through secondary legislation.

In our party, we've also talked about the need to triple the land transaction tax on the purchase of second homes, which is a step that has been taken in other countries. We've also mentioned the need to pilot the creation of a new planning category for second homes, which would give power to local authorities to control the number of second homes and cap the number of second homes in pressurised communities. These are just some of the recommendations to tackle part of the wider problem, and we must accept that this is a much wider problem than the problem of second homes.

According to the current chief economist of the Bank of England, Andy Haldane, the main levers for tackling the housing crisis are in the hands of the Government. He mentions the tax rates, planning rules, as well as measures to promote house building. Our Government here in Wales cannot hide behind the failures of Westminster in this case, because these three things are within their competence and they have the power to act. The question is: will they act before it's too late? Thank you very much.