Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:23 pm on 15 December 2021.
We need a more systematic approach in noting where and when this Parliament gives its consent to the UK Government on primary legislation. We need an urgent review to understand exactly what kind of impact these LCMs will have on the devolution settlement now and for the future. We were all elected to this place by the people of Wales; we are accountable to them. I don't want Bills and laws within the competence of this Senedd to be passed by Tory Ministers in London—Ministers who simply don't care about the people of Wales. The Westminster Government refused to extend furlough to workers in Wales during the firebreak last year, the Westminster Government is ensuring that Wales doesn't receive a penny of consequential money as a result of HS2, and the Westminster Government secured an ideological Brexit that has left Wales a poorer nation.
We also live in a bilingual nation where Welsh and English exist side by side and are prosperous languages, and this Parliament is a good reflection of that. On a personal level, Deputy Llywydd, I can say that I've spoken far more Welsh professionally during my seven months in this Senedd than I have done in the 12 years prior to this. From the outset, legislation in this Senedd has been bilingual, with both languages treated equally. Clearly, that is not the case in Westminster. The leader of the house even described Welsh as a foreign language. There is more respect to a dead language such as Latin there than there is to a living language such as the Welsh language.