3. What discussions has the First Minister had following the decision of Cardiff Council's planning committee to permit the UK Government to display the union flag at its new premises in the capital? OQ56781

Llywydd, thank you to Rhys ab Owen for the question. Cardiff Council is responsible for making decisions on advertisement consent in the city. The decision is open to judicial review at present. Due to the potential role of the Welsh Ministers in planning decisions, the advice I've had is that it's not appropriate to discuss this case or any other cases.

Thank you for that, First Minister, and Heledd Fychan and I have written to the Minister, asking for the possible options in dealing with this.

I'm not going to rehearse the argument about the union flag. What the UK Government is doing is blatant, it's obvious, and I think, as you've said previously, First Minister, it's not going to work. It's more the technical point I wanted to make. As you've mentioned, the flag is classified as an advertisement, and the planning officer, whilst granting it, used as an example an LED screen in the city centre, which is 44 per cent smaller than the union flag. The flag isn't up yet, but still we haven't got the recourse to call it back in and we can't appeal it. The only people who can appeal it are the applicants themselves, and, of course, the UK Government won't appeal.

I'm glad to hear that you are looking at other options, because my concern is the precedent this sets, First Minister. Who knows, we could have more union flags popping up; we could have advertisements for fast-food outlets; we could have advertisements for betting firms coming on our skyscrapers in the city centre. So, the concern I have, First Minister, is the precedent this sets. Diolch yn fawr.

Llywydd, well, I have to be careful what I say, as you heard in my original answer. My objection is not to a union flag per se; it is whether a 32m tall, 8m wide union flag is a proportionate way of proceeding. I think I can do little better, Llywydd, than to quote the letter written by the leader of the council. It's important, maybe, just to put on the record that this was not a decision taken by elected members of the council. Within the standing orders of the council, this fell to officers to determine, and, as I understand it, the planning rules are such that the presumption is that planning permission is granted and the officers have to be persuaded to go against that presumption. They decided that neither on amenity or on safety grounds should the application be turned down.

But this is the letter that the leader of the council wrote to the Secretary of State for Wales, and he said that 'a misconceived exercise in image projection now would serve little purpose other than to generate disagreement'. And I think that is a point that the UK Government ought to think very carefully about. If the purpose of their actions is to strengthen the union, then they need to ask themselves whether or not a union jack on the scale and size that they are proposing is likely to achieve that ambition, or whether it will simply drive more signatories to the Yes Wales petition asking for it to be reconsidered.

First Minister, we all know that Rhys ab Owen and his colleagues on the Plaid benches would not be raising such objections if this was y ddraig goch that was going to be erected in this UK Government building. But it happens to be a union flag, which, of course, is the flag of the United Kingdom, something of which I am proud to be a citizen. Can I ask you what action the Welsh Government is taking, if we want to talk about legal advertising, to address the proliferation of Yes Cymru stickers around the length and breadth of Wales, for which there appears to be no concern whatsoever being expressed by Members of the party that is raising this concern in the Senedd today? This is an affront to local communities; this is littering and graffiti of the highest order and needs to be addressed.

He can't even keep a straight face.

Llywydd, let me address the first part of Darren Millar's question, because I think he made an important point there. In Gwydyr House in London, the Welsh flag—y ddraig goch—and the union jack are both flown and are both flown, the same size flag, at that building, and I wonder whether the UK Government has thought of replicating the way in which they act in London in the way that they will act now in the centre of Cardiff. If they were to come forward with an application for a Welsh flag of the same size and scale on the building, well, that would simply be to replicate what they have already decided to do where Gwydyr House is concerned in Whitehall.

As to Yes Cymru insignia, it's not a matter for the Welsh Government, and I don't believe it was particularly within the ambit of the question as originally posed.