Well, following the contribution of John Griffiths, it will come as no surprise to any of you that I, and those of us on these benches, oppose this motion today and, in the process, will upset my new friend, Janet Finch-Saunders.

This Bill, like so many of the legislative consent memoranda that we've seen over the last 18 months, undermines our national legislature here, and, therefore, specifically undermines the policies of this Government and this Senedd in the area of housing policy, and it also fails to tackle the great challenges facing the social housing sector in Wales.

The purpose of devolution, as weak as it is, is to give us the power to set policy in specific areas here in Wales, such as health, education, the environment and housing. But if we give our consent to this memorandum today, then we will transfer a small part of our powers in the area of housing back to Westminster. This, of course, is entirely unacceptable.  

In addition, Westminster legislation that has been designed to meet the needs of England, such as in the area of housing, does not meet the challenges facing us here in Wales. We have different challenges here, and Wales must respond to these challenges with our own policy framework. If we are not able to solve the problems here with the limited powers that we have, then the solution is to demand more powers in order to tackle these challenges.  

One of the concerns that I have regarding this LCM is the fact that there is social housing in Wales that comes under the control of housing associations in England, which will be accountable to Westminster legislation instead of being accountable to Welsh legislation. The requirements and standards in Wales are higher than in England—and congratulations to the Welsh Government for ensuring that—but we must ensure that everyone here in Wales can expect those same standards. Enabling this LCM today means that some social housing in Wales will continue to meet different and lower standards. That should not happen, and we must have consistency in terms of our expectations here in Wales.

Finally, we should note that this is the fifth LCM that has been introduced for this Bill. On every single occasion, we've had very little opportunity to scrutinise and consult on the Bill and its impact on tenants who live in Wales. This, of course, is entirely inadequate. The fact that there have been five LCMs demonstrates how the proposed Bill has been changed and adjusted, and how the elected Members of Westminster, and indeed developments in housing in England, are able to influence the Bill, because it is their Bill. But we have almost no voice here. It will affect the daily lives of tenants who live in Wales—the people whom we represent—and yet, neither we nor them have any influence on it. The lack of time to scrutinise and understand the proposed legislation is entirely unacceptable. So, I therefore urge you to vote against this LCM today. Thank you.