Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:13 pm on 6 December 2022.
Yes, thank you very much, Delyth, for that series of things. So, just going through them in order, yes, we absolutely bring up the grid issues every single time I meet anybody even remotely relevant to it in a ministerial group—we bring it up. I’m in the queue to see the new energy Minister. I hope he stays in post long enough for me to actually see this one—the last one left post before I managed it. We are looking for a reassurance that the holistic network design that was discussed with the Minister, which seems like years ago now, but was only a few months ago, goes ahead for Wales. We’ve discussed in this Chamber many times why we need that network design to go ahead and why we need the upgrading of the grid. It is absolutely the case, and every single renewable developer we speak to, and the Crown Estate themselves, agree with us on the case that, if we want to onshore the very significant gigawatt capability of the Celtic sea into south Wales, which we certainly need to do, then we need the grid capacity to be able to do that. We are pushing with some alacrity to make sure that that happens, and there’ll be a number of round-tables and interventions that we are taking part in, and indeed hosting, in January and February of next year, trying to make sure that we’re the first movers in some of those areas, and ensuring that our ports are in prime position to be able to take advantage of what will be a significant opportunity.
In terms of the cost-of-living crisis, this is one of the conundrums, isn’t it, of the world? So, we are trying to put money into people’s pockets in a short-term way for the cost-of-living crisis, because some people simply cannot make ends meet, and at the same time we are also, of course, promoting energy efficiency and adaptations, so the better your house is, the more adapted it is to climate resilience, the less energy you use, and the more money there is in your pocket. If you were lucky enough to be able to afford to put solar panels on your roof, then you are getting a benefit from that.
We’ve also been pushing the UK Government to, frankly, come away from its ridiculous market based on the marginal price of gas, and to split the renewables market away from that. Instead, unfortunately, they've come up with a plan to windfall tax the renewables companies, which seems completely—. Well, it's not what we would have done, that's for sure. We keep pushing that all the time and also, obviously, the renewables do that. But it's right around the coast of Britain. Wales has really excellent renewables, but, actually, Britain has really excellent renewables, so it makes no sense to me that the Government, acting as the English Government in that regard, doesn't see the opportunity for that. We certainly do push that, and I was in an inter-ministerial group only on Monday where it was amongst the things discussed.
The other thing discussed was the threat to the habitats regulations—the EU Bill. We were assured by the Minister who was at that meeting—. Unfortunately, it was not Thérèse Coffey, and I would like to put it on record, Deputy Llywydd, that we would like the Secretary of State to actually attend the meetings, and not send junior Ministers. But the Minister there was at great pains to tell us that the assumption is going to be that things stay in place unless there's a real reason for them not to. It's very difficult to understand what real reason there would be not to maintain the habitats directive in place. Nevertheless, we will be keeping a very watchful eye on what happens, because otherwise we will have to undergo a very rapid programme to make sure that those habitats regulations stay in force in Wales. But I can assure you that that is our intention.
In terms of the land use issue, one of the reasons I'm going to COP15 is because biodiversity totally depends on our ability to make the best use of our land. These carbon sinks are not just forests, just to be clear—these are the peatlands, these are the wildflower meadows, these are the long grasslands where the curlews nest right across Wales that we need interconnectivity between and that we need as habitats. In doing so, we get the double whammy, don't we? We get the increased protection of our biodiversity, but we also get the carbon sink entirely necessary for us to withstand this oncoming onslaught.