Mr Neil Hamilton: I welcome the Labour-Plaid Cymru budget, and Steffan Lewis gave a list of the changes that he says are due to the influence of Plaid Cymru. The DUP in Northern Ireland has got an extra £1 billion for Northern Ireland out of their support for the Government at Westminster, and Plaid Cymru has managed to redirect £500 million out of the £15 billion that the Labour Government here has to...
Mr Neil Hamilton: So, is the First Minister saying that the conduct of special advisers will not be part of the terms of the inquiry of James Hamilton?
Mr Neil Hamilton: Conduct.
Mr Neil Hamilton: Good. In which case, can the First Minister then confirm that the inquiry that is being undertaken, one of many—another day, another inquiry today—by James Hamilton will involve, also, an inquiry into the conduct of special advisers, because they are specifically responsible to him, the First Minister, ultimately, for their political conduct?
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. On 13 November, Adam Price tabled a written question, which asked the First Minister if 'he continues to be responsible for "staffing including the terms and conditions of Special Advisers'. The answer came 10 days later: 'I retain a close interest in staffing but responsibility rests with the Permanent Secretary.' But the code of conduct for special advisers says...
Mr Neil Hamilton: The only thing we've learned out of the fiasco of the weekend is that Theresa May isn't terribly good at politics, which we knew anyway from the last general election result. It would be inconceivable for the DUP ever to countenance the kind of deal that we read about, whereby there would be a special deal for Northern Ireland on trade, because that would compromise the integrity of the...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Will the First Minister make a statement on the appointment of Welsh Government advisers?
Mr Neil Hamilton: I'm afraid I think I'm at the end of my speech and the Deputy Presiding Officer would not allow me to accept an intervention, although I would have been otherwise delighted to do so. So, I'm afraid that this catalogue of disaster continues, and I believe that, until we change the Government of this country, it is likely to continue further.
Mr Neil Hamilton: Now, we all know, of course, that areas like Blaenau Ffestiniog and its surrounding district pose problems. There's always going to be a tension with the provision of health services in sparsely populated rural areas, but the models that have been chosen are more related to what is appropriate for urban areas rather than rural areas. In urban settings, of course, the tendency is, for very...
Mr Neil Hamilton: We've listened to a number of very powerful speeches illustrating the catastrophe that is the Betsi Cadwaladr health board, over which the current Cabinet Secretary, and the previous one who's temporarily left the Chamber, presided. Now, for many, many years, the Labour Party has been accustomed to saying that the national health service is the envy of the world. Well, as far as Betsi...
Mr Neil Hamilton: She seems to me to be making an argument for the dissolution of the Standards of Conduct Committee, because it could be said that all her criticisms of what is being proposed here would apply to that committee too.
Mr Neil Hamilton: [Inaudible.]—on this point?
Mr Neil Hamilton: Let's listen to Leighton Andrews's own words—and they weren't just off-the-cuff comments; they were written by him in a blog, so he knew what he was doing. He said: 'there had been deliberate personal undermining of Carl Sargeant from within the Welsh Labour Government over several years. I am not going to name names today'— but let's hope he'll do so in due course— 'But I made a...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, I think the leader of Plaid Cymru in her winding up in her speech got to the nub of the issue. The Government may use its majority in the Chamber of those who are present today to frustrate the desire for transparency that exists not just in this Assembly but also outside it, it may win the vote here today, but it certainly will not win the vote in the court of public opinion outside,...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I'm surprised to hear the Cabinet Secretary criticise the UK Government for lack of openness and transparency in this respect, because researchers from my office on 13 October made a similar request to the Welsh Government—to the First Minister—to publish documents relating to the Welsh Government's understanding of the impact of Brexit upon Wales, and the response that we got was this:...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I thank the Cabinet Secretary for that reply. Will she agree with me that, although there is no easy answer or simple solution to the eradication of TB in cattle, one promising way forward is a greater concentration upon genetics? The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board has put together a genetic index; it is funded by UK farmers, of course, to undertake research and development on...
Mr Neil Hamilton: It is important, of course, that environmental concerns are taken seriously, and, therefore, that the methods employed, if they're not controlled by statute or regulation, are properly audited and therefore the results can be regarded as credible. This particular scheme in the Cleddau is being audited by Natural Resources Wales, so there again, if the regulatory bodies are working hand in...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I'm sure that everybody wants the right decision to be made at the end of the day, and if a delay results in that, nobody's going to complain. Of course, the precondition is that we get the right decision at the end of the day. But, this particular experiment that I referred to a moment ago in the Cleddau has managed to reduce the nitrate leaches into the soil and the waterways by nearly 90...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. Just carrying on with NVZs, as the Cabinet Secretary knows, this is causing considerable concern amongst those who might be affected by it. I would just like to support the approach that has been taken by our colleague from Preseli. It is open to the Cabinet Secretary, of course, as a consequence of this consultation, to avoid a heavy-handed approach, if she's...
Mr Neil Hamilton: 5. Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on the Welsh Government’s bovine TB eradication programme in Mid and West Wales? OAQ51366
