5. Statement by the Deputy Minister for Climate Change: Trees and Timber

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:43 pm on 13 July 2021.

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Photo of Lee Waters Lee Waters Labour 4:43, 13 July 2021

Thank you very much. It's always difficult, I know, for opposition spokespeople who have to write a contribution in advance of a Minister setting out what's happening, and it's a shame that much of what she accused me of had been addressed in my statement. She does remind me a little bit of the old saying that some people refuse to take 'yes' for an answer.

You criticised me for not setting a target of 5,000 when I had said that we are accepting the Climate Change Committee's target on tree planting, which is 5,000. So, that is an anxiety I can put to bed. Indeed, I'm happy to go through with her—. I don't have the time today to go through everything she said, but I don't think there's much—[Interruption.] If she'd not heckle me, I'd do my best to answer her questions; it's very distracting. I don't think there's anything that she said in that statement that is going to be a problem for us. I think the taskforce has addressed all of those issues, and we certainly have tried. 

As for shifting responsibility away from the Welsh Government by saying this needs to be an alliance for change—I think that's to completely misunderstand and misrepresent what we're saying and what we're trying to achieve. This has to be a whole-system approach. Absolutely the Welsh Government has got a significant role to play, and that's why we've set out the changes to the grant criteria, the greater risk appetite we're prepared to take—[Interruption.]