Mike Hedges: Can I start by saying that I fully support the Welsh Government’s support for decarbonisation? I believe that unless we take appropriate action, catastrophe awaits us, not just in Wales, but across the world. We cannot afford the earth to keep on getting hotter. The three main carbon-based fuels are coal, oil and gas. Coal is composed primarily of carbon along with quantities of other...
Mike Hedges: Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on the building of council housing in Wales?
Mike Hedges: Air quality on Neath Road in Hafod in Swansea is amongst the worst in Wales, due to both its importance as the main road from the north-east into Swansea city centre, and its topography. I welcome the Morfa distributor road, which will reduce air pollution on Neath Road. Does the Cabinet Secretary agree that a bypass is not the solution to all problems of poor air quality, but, in some cases...
Mike Hedges: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I am an example of Harold Wilson’s statement, ‘a week is a long time in politics’. [Laughter.] I am delighted to open today’s debate on the report from the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee on the future of land management in Wales, although I feel like someone going up to collect the cup and not having played in the...
Mike Hedges: Diolch, Llywydd. Can I thank everybody who took part in the debate? We’ve seen a great degree of consensus breaking out over most of it. Can I thank the Cabinet Secretary for her response, and can I just thank everybody who either during the debate, or via messages prior to it, welcomed me, and can I just say thank you very much for that? Starting off with Paul Davies—it’s nice to go...
Mike Hedges: Please.
Mike Hedges: Can I say I agree with you entirely? What I was going to say was we could have got round it from the very beginning by saying all instructions had to be in Welsh, and make everybody in Spain, Portugal, and other people who wanted to export to us, produce Welsh packaging with Welsh instructions, and that would have stopped it. Neil Hamilton—with Brexit, there are lots of different views;...
Mike Hedges: Certainly.
Mike Hedges: Thank you very much. Jenny Rathbone—post Brexit—. Well, the starting pistol has been fired. Our dependency on immigrant labour, we know. The effect of tariffs on lamb exports, we won’t have—well, we will have very, very few. And the quality of food is important. I think that something we all we all need to think about is what we’re putting in our stomachs. Eluned Morgan said it was...
Mike Hedges: Not all of us.
Mike Hedges: 6. Will the First Minister make a statement on the importance of sporting success in promoting Wales to the world? OAQ(5)0694(FM)
Mike Hedges: Can I thank the First Minister for that response? I think we all—or most of us really enjoyed Wales’s success last year at the Euros, and that we really did see Wales being promoted as a major player in Europe because of it. I think it is, of course, crucial that Sport Wales also realises the importance of professional sport in Wales. Does the First Minister agree with me, regarding...
Mike Hedges: But, surely, with corporation tax, it’s almost like a voluntary donation by major companies when they can decide where they’re going to repatriate their profits to, where they decide to pay for intellectual property rights et cetera. So, it’s a voluntary contribution—the rate doesn’t matter, it’s the size of how much they actually want to pay.
Mike Hedges: I welcome the opportunity to start engaging in this debate today, and I welcome the Cabinet Secretary’s opportunity to start thinking. It’s not so much of an opportunity for thinking, but thinking aloud, which I intend to do. Any proposal to introduce a new tax in Wales will be assessed against a range of criteria, including the extent to which a tax affects UK macroeconomic or fiscal...
Mike Hedges: I wouldn’t think so, because you can’t get that much diesel into most cars, and therefore the cost of traveling to get the diesel—[Interruption.] The cost of travelling to get the diesel will actually be more than the savings possible. Each tax needs to be considered against unintended consequences so that they would affect behaviour in a positive manner. What are the dangers of it...
Mike Hedges: 5. Will the First Minister outline the Welsh Government’s support for the Swansea Bay city region? OAQ(5)0712(FM)
Mike Hedges: Can I thank the First Minister for that response? The first supplementary budget provides an extra £20 million for the Cardiff city region. Will the Swansea bay city region get the same financial support from the Welsh Government when it needs it?
Mike Hedges: Can I ask for two statements? I make no apology for asking for one on the tidal lagoon. I know the tidal lagoon has been mentioned twice this afternoon in questions to the First Minister, but I think it is of such great importance to those of us who live in the Swansea bay city region that I think we would like to have a statement on it, covering two points: one is the marine licence that the...
Mike Hedges: Do you find it ironic that somebody who got 34.7 per cent of the vote in an election wants a 40 per cent ballot threshold?
Mike Hedges: 4. What discussions has the Counsel General had in respect of the legal implications for Wales of the UK Government’s repeal Bill? OAQ(5)0043(CG)
