Mr Neil Hamilton: The question is whether we should attempt to solve these problems by diplomacy and sensible talking to other parties, or engage in the kind of megaphone bellicosity that has come out of Brussels in the last few days. There are very serious issues at stake her. Other countries like Germany and Spain export far more steel to the United States than Britain does. So, Britain is not the cause of...
Mr Neil Hamilton: The First Minister knows that the United States' concern about steel exports to the United States is not with Britain, because actually there's been an 11 per cent reduction in the volume and value of steel that is exported from the UK to the US in the last two years. The quarrel is with countries like China, which produces half the world's steel and where there's massive excess capacity...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. All Members, I'm sure, are pleased, albeit in varying degrees, to see the return safely of the First Minister from the United States of America. I read the written statement that was published this morning by the Welsh Government of what he did on his trip there, and I was quite surprised to see that there was no mention of any meetings with members of the...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I thank the First Minister for that reply. There are strong arguments for reducing the voting age to 16, but would the First Minister agree with me that consistency is also an important element in the law, and if somebody is adult enough to be able to participate in choosing the Government of the country at the age of 16, they should be able to drive a car lawfully, to decide for themselves...
Mr Neil Hamilton: 2. Will the First Minister provide an update on progress to lower the minimum age for voting in elections in Wales? OAQ51871
Mr Neil Hamilton: I give way.
Mr Neil Hamilton: I entirely agree. [Interruption.] I think we must really keep this in perspective in any event. The average tariff that applies to goods being imported into the European Union is about 3.5 per cent. There are specific sectors that are affected more than that: motor cars, as we all know—10 per cent, and agricultural products are a special case, very often, even in free trade agreements, as...
Mr Neil Hamilton: No, not at all. It would be up to the United Kingdom Government to decide whether it wants to impose tariffs or not. For example, the common external tariff of the European Union applies a tax of 4.7 per cent on umbrellas having telescopic shafts. It applies a tariff of 1.7 per cent on swords, cutlasses, bayonets, lances, scabbards and sheaths. It applies a 15 per cent tariff on the import of...
Mr Neil Hamilton: The Chairman of the external affairs committee just complained that this is a debate about a semantic distinction, but the semantic distinction was one that was introduced by his party, of course. That's the whole point of this. But I think I can help him, actually, to reinforce the point that was made by Adam Price a minute ago. On the European Commission's own website, it says that 'The...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I rise to support this motion this afternoon and it's difficult to see how anybody could, in good conscience, oppose it. What possible argument could there be for not wanting to publish this report with all its limitations and redactions? In a previous incarnation, I had a responsibility on behalf of the UK Government for issuing public interest immunity certificates, which meant that you...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I'd just like to introduce perhaps a rather different perspective on this. I fully acknowledge the success of the Welsh Government in achieving its recycling objectives, but I think we should recognise that the benefit to the planet of what we do in Wales is obviously going to be very, very small. More than half of the plastic waste that flows into the oceans comes from just five countries:...
Mr Neil Hamilton: The finance Secretary will know that I do not shrink from being coruscating in my criticism of Welsh Government where I think that is necessary, but also, being fair-minded, I'll be unstinting in my support when I think the Welsh Government is in the right, and I welcome the statement that we've heard from him today and I would like to say that I think he's displayed the patience of Job in...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, clarity of that kind is normally to be found only in the pages of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass, because you can't be inside and outside at the same time. The First Minister, I see, intends, in the course of his visit, to talk to Hillary Clinton. Nothing wrong with that in itself but, as Hillary Clinton actually lost the election for the presidency to...
Mr Neil Hamilton: It's clearly impossible under EU law for any member state to conduct trade negotiations with a third country, because all that is reserved to the Commission in Brussels, so the Labour Party's position is totally incoherent. But I was also encouraged by what the First Minister said that, 'I want to reassure...the United States that Wales remains an outward looking and welcoming country.'...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch, Llywydd. I was encouraged when I heard that the First Minister was leaving the country, in particular because of what he said at the same time, that America was Wales's most important business partner and there are exciting opportunities that lie ahead and he was going to the United States to press the case for developing a free trade agreement between our countries. Unfortunately,...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Will the First Minister make a statement on the procedures followed by paramedics when responding to incidents of cardiac arrest?
Mr Neil Hamilton: Can I support Simon Thomas in what he said earlier on and also support the Minister in what he has just said about helping Powys to help itself? I know from discussions with him that, if that doesn't bear fruit in due course, he will take more draconian action. I wonder whether he'd agree with me that one of the most troubling features of this case as it appears in the child practice review...
Mr Neil Hamilton: The Cabinet Secretary knows that I don't see this as a zero-sum game where Britain benefits at the expense of the EU. I've always made it clear that a free trade deal is in the interests of both parties, and actually, is much more in the interests of the EU, in a sense, than it is to the UK because we have a massive deficit of about £80 billion a year in trade with the EU. And as regards...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, the Cabinet Secretary knows that the British Government is doing its best to achieve a deal with the EU. The only people who are playing hard to get in this are the European Commission themselves. This is an essential part of Monsieur Barnier's negotiating strategy, and the kind of response that the Cabinet Secretary has just given to me is music to the ears of Michel Barnier. That's...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I fully endorse what the Cabinet Secretary earlier on said in criticism of the UK Government and the confusion that seems to reign in the Cabinet on its Brexit policy, largely due to the activities of diehard remainers like the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who seems to be regularly trying to undermine the whole process. But, of course, the Welsh Government could assist in getting the best...
