First of all, I want to thank everyone who gave evidence as part of the Finance Committee's scrutiny of the Bill and to place on record my gratitude for the support and advice offered by the clerking and legal team throughout this process. I'd also like to thank you, Minister, for the way you and your officials have constructively engaged with me and colleagues during the amending process. I thank you for that.

It's in this regard that I do believe that the Bill before us today is somewhat stronger than the original Bill that was laid to the Senedd last year. Both the LJC and finance committees made clear that the original Bill needed strengthening to limit the powers of the Welsh Ministers with regard to legislation on taxation policy, so I welcome some of the amendments that we've seen, such as restricting the scope of the regulation-making power within section 1 of the Bill in relation to criminal investigations, changes to the use of retrospective powers and the introduction of a sunset clause. However, it is unfortunate that the Minister did not accept any of my amendments, most of which were in line with a number of the committee recommendations, both from the finance and LJC committees. I believe that these would have strengthened the Bill further and ensured sufficient Senedd scrutiny over the operation of the Act.

As it stands, I'm still not fully convinced that the Bill as drafted provides sufficient safeguards over the use of potentially wide-ranging powers within it. The Minister's amendments didn't go quite as far as I would have liked. However, Llywydd, my main issue with this Bill is one that I stated right at the start of the process: that it's not appropriate for secondary legislation to be used as a vehicle to make changes to primary taxation legislation. It raises fundamental questions about the Senedd as a legislature and its relationship with the Executive. As the LJC committee argued, the Welsh Government should have developed a more strategic, coherent and long-term package of legislative measures to deliver its proposals and objectives in relation to tax. It is important that the Senedd continues to closely monitor the Bill as it's enacted to ensure that the powers within it are used as outlined by the Minister during scrutiny and do not overstep on the Senedd remit. As such, Llywydd, I am unfortunately not able to support this Bill today, and so the Welsh Conservative group will be voting against the motion. Thank you.