No-one could have predicted the COVID-19 pandemic that hit the world 18 months ago. Its impact has changed all our lives, turned the economy upside down, and changed the relationship between those in positions of power and the people of this great nation forever. The conversations around COVID-19 restrictions are not straightforward. They're complex, they're intricate, and the public have wide-ranging views on lockdowns, restrictions and vaccine passports, or the so-called vaccine pass.

Today, we discuss the proposal about the vaccine pass in Wales brought forward by the Government here in Wales. I am wholeheartedly opposed to the introduction of any type of internal passport or pass for anyone to have to use to be able to live their lives in this country. Freedoms and democracies are hard won, and anything that erodes personal freedoms, I simply cannot support. There are various reasons for my opposition to domestic vaccine passes or passports; some are economic, some are medical, some are legal, but many are moral and based on the foundations of a free liberal society. The road this Government wants to take the people of Wales down is an extremely slippery slope; to create a system where only those who are vaccinated can have access to certain venues and events will, I believe, create a two-tiered society where those for medical reasons or others do not want to have the vaccine are barred from participating in our society. World history does not make pretty reading when you start to discriminate against people because of a single issue. I find this a terrible prospect, and not one that anybody who wants to live in a twenty-first-century liberal democracy would support.

The slippery slope, however, is one that concerns me greatly. Of course, the Government will say this system will only be implemented for as long as COVID is with us, but Governments of all colours and all political persuasions change their minds, and, once introduced, regulations are very rarely repealed.

But where has this Welsh Government u-turn come from? A few months ago, the First Minister himself was opposed to domestic vaccine passports, and now he wants them introduced here in Wales. Why impose a system where only those who have had the jab can attend events? Scientific data shows that those who have had the jab can catch and spread COVID-19 just as much as those who have COVID-19. It only reduces the risk of serious hospital admission.

We in the west have one thing that many countries across the world do not have—that is, freedom. This freedom must be preserved at all costs. To close, I'd like to quote the American President Ronald Reagan.

'Freedom is a fragile thing and it's never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation'.

I urge all my colleagues across parties to vote down this motion and protect our freedoms and our civil liberties here in Wales. Diolch, Llywydd.