Rhys ab Owen: Deputy Presiding Officer, as many in this Chamber will know, reforming the care sector is very important to me. Like for many others, it's a personal thing too. It was said yesterday in the Chamber that the word 'crisis' is overused. That's true, perhaps, but there certainly is a crisis in the care sector, and that crisis is just going to get worse. This is one reason why I am so proud to...
Rhys ab Owen: Sorry, Llywydd.
Rhys ab Owen: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. As a young boy, the name Betty Campbell came up many times in conversation at home. She was in school with my auntie, and through education and local politics in Cardiff became firm friends with my father. I was always in awe of Betty. At a young age, I knew nothing about her accomplishments—that came later on. But even as a youngster, I experienced this incredible...
Rhys ab Owen: What discussions has the Minister had with the Minister for Climate Change regarding the impact of trying to secure domestic fire safety measures on the mental health of the occupants of high-rise flats?
Rhys ab Owen: I turn to Labour backbenchers and urge you to vote against this. Alun Davies warned us again last week that devolution is dead—the process is over, we need to fight for it. The First Minister also said yesterday that it 'cannot be the limit of the ambition of this great party to wring marginal and reluctant concessions from the rich, the powerful and the privileged'. Well, can I add to what...
Rhys ab Owen: Only in 2015, Boris Johnson wrote in The Daily Telegraph—and he was paid kindly for it—that warm weather in winter has nothing to do with global warming. And we also remember, don't we, his quote about rice pudding skin and wind turbines?
Rhys ab Owen: We here are Members of the Welsh Parliament at a time when the Westminster Government is undermining our devolution settlement—that is a fact. Listen to the numbers: in the fourth Senedd, there were eight Westminster Bills that required consent; now, in the sixth Senedd, already there are 13 Bills. It is happening. It's no coincidence; it is a plan by the Boris Johnson Government to...
Rhys ab Owen: On an issue of fundamental principle, Deputy Llywydd—a fundamental constitutional principle—it's the Welsh Senedd that should legislate in devolved areas. It is as simply as that. Areas such as the climate emergency are far too important to be left to Boris Johnson's Government. It was most unfortunate, as Huw Irranca-Davies has said, how little information was contained within the...
Rhys ab Owen: I am told that the First Minister yesterday at Brighton received a standing ovation. Obviously, I wasn't there to witness it, but he said this—he described the importance of retaining power in order to make a difference in our communities. Yet, today, we have a Welsh Government conceding power to the Conservative Party at Westminster. This is what the First Minister said: 'Everything...
Rhys ab Owen: I apologise.
Rhys ab Owen: I was getting so excited with the—[Interruption.]
Rhys ab Owen: No, I've got it here, Llywydd. Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd.
Rhys ab Owen: Diolch yn fawr. The Counsel General will be aware, from his own constituency inbox and surgeries, the difficulties of many ladies born in the 1950s who find themselves, because of the lack of communication by the Department for Work and Pensions about the changes to the state pension, in this awful situation. And tragically, many of these women died before they received a penny of the...
Rhys ab Owen: Let me just get it up.
Rhys ab Owen: Thank you, Counsel General.
Rhys ab Owen: My final question is similar to that of Mark Isherwood, but, of course, from a different perspective, as you probably won't be surprised. It's about the newly named levelling-up department, under the leadership of Michael Gove, probably a hero of some people over there. Now, they're in charge of distributing the levelling-up fund and, as has been mentioned, it appears that the fund will...
Rhys ab Owen: I’m glad to hear some positivity in your answer, Counsel General. That makes me wonder what evidence those on that side of the Chamber need to see before they realise that No. 10 is undermining our devolution settlement.
Rhys ab Owen: I want to move on now to the boundary commission and their announcement on reducing the number of Welsh seats to 32. It's clear to everyone what's happening here—it's the same as what happened with the elections Bill, where ID will be needed. The Conservatives are once again trying to strengthen their hold on Westminster and undermine the Welsh voice. Does the Welsh Government intend to...
Rhys ab Owen: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. As you know, Counsel General, when the UK Government introduces a Bill in Westminster that is within the devolved powers of the Senedd, the Welsh Government need to lay down a legislative consent memorandum. In the whole of the fourth Senedd, only eight Bills were within the devolved areas. Already, in this sixth Senedd, we are up to 13. Now, I am glad that the Welsh...
Rhys ab Owen: Diolch yn fawr, Gweinidog. I want to mention three reports that you'll be well versed with in my suppementary question. Firstly, the report by Dr Robert Jones of the Wales Governance Centre. In that report it says that in 2017, the level of racial disproportionality in the prison population was higher amongst Welsh prisoners than English prisoners. Shamefully, we here in Wales have the...
