Mick Antoniw: Thank you, Llywydd. Six weeks ago, on 7 March, this Assembly debated the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee’s report on the 'Scrutiny of regulations made under the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill'. Our inquiry that preceded that report considered the appropriateness of the scope and nature of delegated powers provided in the Bill to UK and Welsh Ministers, and the procedures...
Mick Antoniw: Thank you for those comments, and they very much reflect, I think, the views I hope I've expressed, although we've not had the opportunity obviously to have a detailed discussion of what happened. When the report was presented, I actually went off message and made a very specific comment that I thought was important, and that is: it is not for Government to determine the mechanism for its own...
Mick Antoniw: Thank you for those comments. This is a matter of constitutional principles with regard to the separation of powers. We know we have all had serious concerns about the very serious transfers of powers and the way in which powers will have to be exercised as a result of the withdrawal Bill and the developments around Brexit. We have all expressed the very serious concerns and recognised the...
Mick Antoniw: Can I, first of all, welcome your statement and the detail with which you've answered the various points that have been raised? It is right, as you will expect, that we adopt a cautious approach until we actually know the full details, until we've actually seen the amendments themselves and where they actually fit within the legislation. That is our role as a legislature: to scrutinise that,...
Mick Antoniw: Cabinet Secretary, isn't one of the issues with locums the fact that not only can they earn £800 plus a day without the responsibilities of running a practice, but that the tax system under which they operate means that they can effectively, by setting up as a co-operation, pay just 20 per cent tax and the rest as dividends? And what, effectively, the locum system is actually doing is...
Mick Antoniw: Cabinet Secretary, can I firstly welcome the very significant investment the Welsh Government, in conjunction with Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council, is making into road safety measures, certainly in the west of my constituency, and there are a number of projects under way? In particular, at Beddau Halt in my constituency, a notorious accident black spot, the agreement now of the...
Mick Antoniw: Deputy Presiding Officer, I wish to raise a point of order under Standing Order 13.9(ii), (iii), (iv) and (vi)—obstructing the business of the Assembly; seeking to raise a matter outside the scope of the debate; is guilty of discourteous or unbecoming conduct; refuses to conform to any Standing Order or other requirement for conduct—and possibly in respect of Standing Order 15.1 on...
Mick Antoniw: I think we need to reflect on where we started from in this process. Clause 11, as originally drafted, was, effectively, a recentralisation of powers Bill, driving a coach and horses through the devolution settlement. It was the product of a UK Government mindset that has still not attuned itself to devolution, and it continued the sort of thinking that has resulted in a total failure to...
Mick Antoniw: I've two questions. Just a couple of comments before that: I think it's worth looking at where we've come from, and when we started, for example, with the plastic bags, the impact that had—almost 400 million bags a year in Wales alone not being utilised, 8 billion in the UK, which followed on from the Welsh example. I remember raising this at the Committee of the Regions in Brussels,...
Mick Antoniw: Thank you, Llywydd. On 27 April 2018, the First Minister laid before the National Assembly the Welsh Government’s supplementary legislative consent memorandum—memorandum No. 2—on the Bill as presented to the House of Lords at First Reading. The supplementary legislative consent memorandum clarifies that the Welsh Government’s objections with the Bill as introduced related to four...
Mick Antoniw: Certainly, yes.
Mick Antoniw: The treatment is different, but there is a clear convention and the whole agreement, and the whole arrangement sinks or swims on the implementation of that and the maintenance. If that were to fail, then it's very clear, as we discussed within committee, that there would indeed be a constitutional crisis. Nevertheless, in the context of mutual respect and parity between the nations of the...
Mick Antoniw: You're referring, of course, to the Assembly legal opinion. But, of course, in paragraph 15 of that, it says, 'The amendment has been described by some as defining the concept of consent as including refusal of consent.' The legal opinion actually says, 'In our view, this is not accurate.'
Mick Antoniw: I do appreciate you reciprocating the intervention. Thank you. We do, of course, recognise that Government can't change anything; it has to be Parliament, not the Government. The UK Government has no powers whatsoever.
Mick Antoniw: The leader of the house will excuse my lack of grasp of some of the issues with technology around them. I come from a generation where communication technology consisted of stretching a string across the road and having a tin can either end. [Laughter.] But I understand that the 96 per cent superfast broadband in the Pontypridd area is very good. Can I raise with you the issue of...
Mick Antoniw: 5. Will the First Minister make a statement on the public health implications of problem gambling? OAQ52247
Mick Antoniw: Thank you for that, First Minister. Like everyone here across the parties, we welcomed the announcement by the UK Government the other week of the intention to reduce the maximum bet for fixed-odds betting terminals to £2—something that we've discussed in this Chamber on a cross-party basis for almost five years. Of course, we'll need to see legislation, we need a timetable to make sure...
Mick Antoniw: First Minister, I'm sure you are well aware of the fantastic work that is being done by the Pontypridd-based charity PONT, which has developed links with Mbale in Uganda, and the considerable way in which that has developed to the benefit of the people in Uganda and Mbale. My particular, I think, praise is for the actual educational work that that charity is engaged in within schools in Taff...
Mick Antoniw: Cabinet Secretary, I'm sure you'll agree, as part of the curriculum, having young people understanding what their legal rights and responsibilities in society are, if they're to play a proper role and be prepared for joining society fully as adults—. I wonder what progress, therefore, is being made to develop and incorporate within the curriculum public legal education. Also, I'd ask you,...
Mick Antoniw: I can understand your annoyance at the posturing of Plaid Cymru over this matter, but you probably take some satisfaction from the recognition that what Plaid Cymru say is true, to the extent that we desperately need a Labour Government in Westminster because it's the only way that we will actually be able to abolish section 25 of the Railways Act 1993, which prohibits public ownership—and,...
