Rhys ab Owen: I'm not going to rehearse the argument about the union flag. What the UK Government is doing is blatant, it's obvious, and I think, as you've said previously, First Minister, it's not going to work. It's more the technical point I wanted to make. As you've mentioned, the flag is classified as an advertisement, and the planning officer, whilst granting it, used as an example an LED screen in...
Rhys ab Owen: 3. What discussions has the First Minister had following the decision of Cardiff Council's planning committee to permit the UK Government to display the union flag at its new premises in the capital? OQ56781
Rhys ab Owen: Minister, I'd like to ask a pressing issue with regard to the social care system, which can be resolved now, and this is a personal issue to me. In response to my colleague Gareth Davies last week, you said there hadn't been a blanket ban on care home visits. Technically, that might have been true, but the reality was very different and I can say that from a personal point of view, because my...
Rhys ab Owen: Thank you for that update, and thank you for the White Paper. May I encourage you, please, not to wait for the UK Government to do something? They've made pledges in the past, but have delivered nothing. Wales was in the vanguard with the national health service—Tredegar, Wales, and you in the Labour Party, to be fair. If Nye Bevan had waited for the Tories, then we wouldn't have had a...
Rhys ab Owen: 1. Will the Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government's plans to reform social care? OQ56719
Rhys ab Owen: There's a great deal of talk about subordinate legislation in your statement, but language rights haven't been created since 2018. So, will you pledge that there will be enhanced language rights introduced? There's no mention of a Welsh education Act, which is crucial if we are to reach a million Welsh speakers. The truth, Counsel General, is that your plan is light on detail and is weak....
Rhys ab Owen: Another issue I know constituents in Cardiff and elsewhere feel very strongly about is building safety. We have people a stone's throw away from here in the Senedd who aren't sleeping at night. People are crippled with anxiety—people in fear for their own safety and the safety of their loved ones. Why isn't there anything in this legislative statement about building safety? Why are we...
Rhys ab Owen: We need a clean air Act to legally protect the people and citizens of our nation. The campaigners wanted the Bill introduced in the first 100 days of this Senedd. Well, we'll be lucky to have it in the first 100 weeks, the way you're dragging your feet.
Rhys ab Owen: Llywydd, many of us here in the Senedd and outwith the Senedd are extremely disappointed that the clean air Bill is not contained within your statement today.
Rhys ab Owen: My colleague Delyth Jewell and I tabled a statement of opinion on Clean Air Day on 17 June, calling on the Welsh Government to bring a clean air Act into force this year. That had cross-party support. Why don't you get on with it? The Tories are more progressive than Welsh Government on this point. We need action. You mentioned prioritisation; well, we need action on the climate emergency...
Rhys ab Owen: Thank you for your statement, Counsel General. There are a number of things contained within it that we in Plaid Cymru could agree with.
Rhys ab Owen: A majority of us in this place are concerned about the so-called muscular unionism of the Conservative Party in Westminster, or shall we call it as it is—English nationalist tendency of the Boris Johnson Westminster Government? Plaid Cymru will stand firm with the Welsh Government against the attempt by those over there to overturn the democracy we have here in Wales—the trojan horse of...
Rhys ab Owen: Trefnydd, I know that my colleague Mike Hedges raised this issue, the cladding issue, last week, but subsequently I've met with further residents in Cardiff Bay, and I know there's a demonstration this Saturday about the cladding issues in Cardiff; they're going from the BBC to the Senedd. Trefnydd, the Welsh Government needs to provide answers to these residents. They need to know the amount...
Rhys ab Owen: Thank you very much, Llywydd. It was good to see the public gallery open yesterday, and hopefully other areas of the Senedd will be able to reopen to the public soon. What steps has the Commission taken to ensure that the Senedd estate is safe, in relation to COVID, for all building users?
Rhys ab Owen: Thank you very much for that response, and I'm very pleased that you are to meet on 8 July. One of the major problems raised by the commission on justice was the lack of co-operation with the justice system in Wales, and there was a clear recommendation to establish a law council for Wales. What's stopping that from happening, and when will it be established?
Rhys ab Owen: Well, Dirprwy Lywydd, I did have a fourth question after all.
Rhys ab Owen: Thank you. May I raise a third problem that you have—not just the UK Government, not just your own parliamentary group in Westminster, but also the rest of the UK Governments? To reform the union you will have to have support from not only the Westminster Government, but also the SNP Government in Scotland, the Northern Ireland Executive—wherever power lies there—and also the English...
Rhys ab Owen: Diolch, Cwnsler Cyffredinol. But there is a second problem, isn't there? It's not just the UK Government that's not listening. Your own parliamentary Labour Party isn't listening either. The commitment to devolved justice disappeared from the 2019 manifesto; in 2020, after the publication of the commission on justice report, Chris Bryant, in an argument in Westminster, said he was against...
Rhys ab Owen: The Secretary of State said immediately that he rejected your plan. We've had a robust argument from Mr Millar today against your plan. It will be impossible to deliver this without the UK Government. The Home Office refused to give evidence to the Silk commission, to their own commission. So, how are we going to get the UK Government to become part of this plan? Are you reliant on a Labour...
Rhys ab Owen: Hopefully, that means I have four now. [Laughter.] Diolch yn fawr—
