It won't come as a surprise to the Minister that I have deep concerns relating to the fines on workers in regulation No. 23, and I’m not alone, of course—as Rhun ap Iorwerth highlighted, the TUC and other Members have raised concerns. As I set out when the Senedd was recalled, the Government’s memorandum of understanding shows quite clearly that the Government believes that the relationship is balanced between workers and employers, which is so far from the truth. There was a point made by the First Minister on the record during the recall debate that these fines give workers extra protection, and a hypothetical scenario was played out, and I quote directly from the Record here,

'they are able to say to the employer, "I cannot come to work on those terms, because, if I were to do so, I would be committing an offence, and you cannot put me in that position."'

With the greatest respect, I have to say this is a completely naive position. I could probably give several examples of how that conversation would actually play out from when I worked in minimum-wage jobs before coming to this place, but I appreciate, of course, we’re tight for time.

The Government is also emphasising the fact that no worker has been fined yet. This indicates to me that the Government doesn’t want workers to be fined in the first place, and if this is the case, then I’m struggling to understand why the Government wants to proceed with the fines on workers at all. To conclude, Llywydd, the onus should be on employers and not workers. The employer is responsible for workplace safety, and we’re not talking about a balanced relationship here.