---

Welsh Affairs

My hon. Friend mentions the environmental agenda. Does he agree that one disappointing aspect of the Secretary of State's otherwise excellent speech was a failure to prioritise the environmental opportunities for Wales? Our mutual friend, Mick Bates, Welsh Assembly Member for Montgomeryshire, and others have made it absolutely clear that by building on the Centre for Alternative Technology, the Cardigan Bay project, the Severn barrage and so on, Wales could become an environmental leader in Europe, consistent with being in the UK. The potential is absolutely enormous, particularly if the Government and the Welsh Assembly Government, working in tandem with the private sector, give the necessary lead.