Joyce Watson MS’s Mid Wales Journal column

Bumped by Boris. I was booked in for last Sunday’s BBC political slot, but the former Prime Minister’s sulky resignation stole the show. Not the first time – hopefully the last.

I was due to talk about the Senedd Women’s Caucus, which I launched last week with the aim of advancing gender equality in Welsh politics and society. Twenty years since the then National Assembly became the first gender equal legislature in the world, it’s a case of much done, much still to do.

The caucus is a collaborative mission. As Chair, my focus is on bringing together women parliamentarians from across party lines to provide peer support and advice. Regardless of gender, class, ethnicity, or disability, everyone in Wales should feel empowered to engage with politics at all levels – and over the next few years the Senedd Women’s Caucus will be working hard to make this a reality.

In the Siambr on Tuesday, I talked up mid Wales business. Economy minister Vaughan Gething made a statement on economic development in the region. The Welsh Government-led Mid Wales Growth Deal is making real progress and local companies are capitalising on it. Brecon-based Airflo Fishing Products, which manufactures PVC-free speciality fishing lines, is the latest. The Welsh Government’s £566,000 investment will secure and create 65 jobs, paving the way for a quadrupling of exports to North America. I went on to say that government-funded schemes like Dyfi bridge, Newtown bypass and Bow Street railway station are helping to drive growth and support skilled jobs and apprenticeships here.

On Wednesday, I spoke about blue carbon. These aquatic ecosystems are some of the world’s most efficient absorbers of carbon dioxide, and carbon sinks. The carbon stored in our marine sediments, for example, represents 170 per cent of that held in Welsh forests. Seagrass meadows capture carbon at a greater rate than tropical forests. But we cannot look after them without getting a grip on pollution and nutrient management upstream. The latest downgrading of the Wye’s health status by Natural England is a wakeup call. I urged all members to back the Welsh Government’s whole-farm nitrogen limit. Like gender equality, that should be a cross-party, collaborative mission.