Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, Llywydd, it’s always a pleasure to make a non-controversial speech that is going to command agreement around the Assembly, and to agree with everything that’s been said by all previous speakers so far today. I speak from a completely different perspective, as somebody who is wholly new to this institution, and, indeed, all my group members are in the same position. And we have been...
Mr Neil Hamilton: 4. Will the First Minister make a statement on paediatric care in Wales? OAQ(5)0553(FM)
Mr Neil Hamilton: Yes, sure.
Mr Neil Hamilton: Llywydd, I will, in the interests—
Mr Neil Hamilton: [Continues.]—of rational debate in this Chamber, ignore that comment. All I’m saying is that if Plaid Cymru were to see where the best interests of the policy that they claim to support lies, they would try to be emollient and understanding about the fears of the parents. They may be wholly unmerited. I agree absolutely with what Simon Thomas said about the merits of bilingualism. I have...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Yes, of course I accept that. I support the Government’s policy. All I’m saying is that in the implementation of that policy we should be sensitive to local opinion, in particular the opinion of those who are more intimately affected by educational decisions. What is happening in Llangennech is the opposite. Simon Thomas, in the course of his speech, referred to the school governors being...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch, Llywydd. Well, I approve of everything that the Minister has said in his speech this afternoon, and the note on which he ended is exactly right; that we have to get people to choose to use the Welsh language. They can’t be forced to use it if they don’t want to. And the kind of attitudes that we’ve seen from across the floor today are not likely to lead to that objective—
Mr Neil Hamilton: I will give way.
Mr Neil Hamilton: I can assure you, Llywydd, that I will not be shouted down—
Mr Neil Hamilton: [Continues.]—by the intolerant members of Plaid Cymru opposite; not that all members of Plaid Cymru are intolerant, but some of them clearly are. Jonathan Edwards’s contribution to the debate has been to attack the Labour Party, saying that the Labour Party in Llanelli has run a nasty, divisive campaign against the plans of the local Plaid Cymru-led council. The institutional anti-Welsh...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Yes, of course.
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, I started my remarks this afternoon, Llywydd, by saying I hoped that this would be a constructive debate, and we shouldn’t seek to make petty political points of that kind, and I will continue in that spirit—[Interruption.] Well, we can have a yah-boo debate if you like, but I don’t think that the public at large are going to be terribly impressed by the attitude of Plaid Cymru on...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I beg to move the motion standing in my name. I hope this is going to be a constructive debate this afternoon—that’s certainly the spirit in which we put this motion down. As it makes clear in the very first clause, we support the Welsh Government’s objective of having 1 million Welsh speakers by 2050, and will support all reasonable measures to...
Mr Neil Hamilton: The Education Act 1996 says that pupils should be educated in accordance with parents’ wishes, and that the Secretary of State should have regard to the general principle that pupils are to be educated in accordance with the wishes of their parents. That legislation has, of course, been overtaken since devolution, but the principle behind it, I think, should be pretty non-controversial. I...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, what is there to apologise for?
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, in deference to you, Llywydd, I will apologise for whatever remark I am supposed to have made.
Mr Neil Hamilton: [Inaudible.]
Mr Neil Hamilton: Llywydd, I was listening to the Member, and—[Interruption.]
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, what was unparliamentary about the remark?
Mr Neil Hamilton: Can I regret that the First Minister, yet again, has failed to rise to the level of events? Does he not see that today actually is a great day for the United Kingdom, and a great day for Wales, because what we’re seeing here is the beginning of a process of the restoration of democratic self-Government to Assemblies such as this, where we’ll have Ministers who make decisions and are held...
