Mr Neil Hamilton: 2. Will the First Minister make a statement on mobile phone coverage in Mid and West Wales? OAQ51634
Mr Neil Hamilton: It's impossible, of course, except for reasons of perversity, to oppose this motion, because it's just a 'take note' motion, but I want to make it clear that I, and my party, also support the intention behind the motion. I haven't always taken that view, because, following what Steffan Lewis said in his compelling opening speech today, I had perhaps thought originally that the purpose behind...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I'm grateful again to the Cabinet Secretary. This note of amity is very welcome in the Assembly, I’m sure everybody will agree. The third area in which I think we ought to be able to improve animal welfare is by the installation of CCTV cameras in abattoirs in Wales. The larger ones already do this, but the smaller ones on the whole don’t. Out of the 29 abattoirs in Wales, I believe there...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I’m grateful to the Cabinet Secretary for that answer. Another area that could also lead to an improvement in animal welfare is if we banned the live export of animals. At the moment, the EU estimates that around 4 million cattle, 28 million pigs, 4 million sheep, 243 million poultry, and 150,000 horses are transported for more than eight hours within the EU. Once we're out of the EU, we...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch, Llywydd. Capable and competent as the Minister is in answering her questions, I want to give the Cabinet Secretary her moment in the sun today as well and move to different areas of policy. I know we have differing views about the virtues of EU membership generally, but I hope that the Cabinet Secretary will agree with me that being outside the common agricultural policy, and the...
Mr Neil Hamilton: If the finance Secretary is giving way, that is a complete perversion of the argument that I made in my speech. It's not that any of those things are undesirable, it's just that we have to live within our means in the real world, and you can't forever and a day borrow to pay for things that you can't afford.
Mr Neil Hamilton: Yes, well, what brought America really out of the recession, of course, was the war. There are various ways in which you can raise economic activity, but I don't think that war is necessarily the most attractive of the options. But tomorrow does eventually come. We're spending £50 billion to £60 billion a year on debt interest in the UK. If we take Wales's proportion of that, that may be...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I don't begrudge Plaid Cymru the opportunity to laud their influence on the decisions made by the finance Secretary at all. I totally agree with Adam Price's statement that, where one can agree with other parties, it's very desirable that you should do. And, of course, I've spent a fair share of my years in politics opposing very vigorously the policies of Plaid Cymru and the Labour Party and...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, it's clear that the answer to my question is that both the Government and Transport for Wales sat on their hands during that period, but I'll leave that there. Does the First Minister share my amusement that Philip Green, the chairman of Carillion since 2014, was an adviser on corporate responsibility to David Cameron and Theresa May as Prime Minister, and that the previous chief...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, with what's happened this week, whilst it couldn't have been predicted with confidence, there was clearly a high possibility that Carillion was going to get into difficulties from which it couldn't extricate itself. After all, we had the first profit warning in July. In September, the shares in Carillion fell by 60 per cent in two days. Three weeks after that, there was another profits...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. The First Minister will agree with me that in order to secure value for money in public contracts, it is desirable that there should be a reasonable spread of credible bidders. It wasn't entirely clear to me from the answer that the finance Secretary gave to Adam Price earlier what the legal impact is going to be of the collapse of Carillion in relation to Abellio's...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Will the First Minister make a statement on the accessibility of bus services in Mid and West Wales?
Mr Neil Hamilton: I'm very pleased to congratulate the committee for this interesting and informative report, which is very balanced and fair. One of the things that has impressed me about this Assembly since I've been here is the way that these committees do work effectively with a cross-party consensus view very, very often. I would also like to commend the committee members for the immense amount...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Will the Counsel General agree with me that the democratic institutions of the United Kingdom—Westminster, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast—are perfectly capable of defending the human rights of British nationals? They need no assistance from unelected judges based in Luxembourg. When the charter of fundamental rights was being negotiated, the then Labour Government secured an opt-out from...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Llywydd, I’m glad to be called, perhaps a little later than I might have expected. I was beginning to think you were confusing me with Gareth Bennett, but there it is. I agree with most of the—[Interruption.] It was supposed to be a joke. I agree with most of what has been said in this debate so far. I do take the point that David Melding raised about the length of this plan, but for a...
Mr Neil Hamilton: The First Minister knows that MiFID has nothing to do with the kind of conduct that caused the crash or made it far worse in 2008, when I remind the First Minister, of course, we had a Labour Government, a Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer, and a Labour Prime Minister who himself wanted a light-touch regulatory system. Of course, we all learnt great lessons from that. But, regulation such as...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, can I respond to the First Minister's sally about the temporary expansion of our group? UKIP has done a great deal since the beginning of the year to entertain the country and cheer us all up. But, we are here to fight for what we believe in and we will continue the fight as we have done in the last year with a group of five. But one of the opportunities that Brexit offers to us if we...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch yn fawr iawn, Llywydd. Can I start on a note of amity—which will certainly not continue—at least at the very beginning of the proceedings, and wish the First Minister, and indeed all his Ministers, a happy new year? And I do genuinely wish them success, although I think it's unlikely to be realised. And can I return to the point that was raised by Steffan Lewis earlier on? I'm sure...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'm pleased to reply to the debate and to welcome the speeches of David Melding, Siân Gwenllian—95 per cent of it, at any rate—and Caroline Jones, and indeed the positive speech from the Minister. Because we do accept that the Government is doing some useful things to help to solve the housing shortage, but, given that on present population trends the...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Point of order—
