Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:29 pm on 2 November 2021.
Diolch, Llywydd. I just want to express my gratitude to the Members who’ve contributed. I fully understand their frustration. We are ourselves frustrated with the lack of engagement at UK level. Just to reiterate the point that I fully intend to bring a single-use plastics Bill to the Senedd. We are, of course, however, embroiled in specific problems relating to the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 and the legal arrangements surrounding it. I have, as you saw in my opening remarks, committed to the regulations being subject to the affirmative procedure within the Senedd, because I absolutely want the Senedd to have the full amount of scrutiny of any regulations that come forward using these powers. I absolutely accept that it would be better if the Senedd was legislating itself, which is why we will bring forward a Welsh Act in due course. However, I did not feel it would be appropriate at all for Wales to be lagging behind the rest of the UK in its ability to move swiftly on the issue of single-use plastics and other materials that have a negative impact on our biodiversity here in Wales. We are, after all, in a climate and nature emergency, and therefore, these measures are, in my estimation, necessary to ensure that Wales can stay in the vanguard of the fight for both our climate and our natural world. So, on that basis, Llywydd, I recommend the LCM to the Senedd.