Mark Reckless: Would the Member care to remind the Assembly how her constituency voted?
Mark Reckless: The people voted to leave the European Union. The Member does not agree with what the people voted, so he's trying to reverse it, and unlike the Chartists, who expected the annual Parliament to be installed before they were overturned, he wants to ignore what the people decided.
Mark Reckless: The Cabinet Secretary opened this debate by saying we were voting before the House of Commons, that he wanted to influence MPs, that Welsh Government believes the House of Commons should vote down the withdrawal agreement, and he concluded by saying he hopes this National Assembly will send a clear message that the withdrawal agreement is unacceptable and should be rejected. Inspiring...
Mark Reckless: I first met Jeremy Corbyn in the 'no' lobby; we were one of 13 MPs voting against the establishment of the European External Action Service, and I met him on numerous occasions thereafter on various EU matters where we were of the same view. I hope he still is of the same view, because I think, once this withdrawal agreement is voted down in the Commons, I don't accept that the alternative is...
Mark Reckless: I wonder if he might also just address his own amendment, which says that the UK will effectively stay in the single market. Isn't it actually Northern Ireland that that would happen to? And he then says that the UK Government has frustrated Brexit. Actually, to date, we're to leave on 29 March, and I hope and believe that will still happen, and doesn't he agree with that?
Mark Reckless: Will the Secretary give way on this point? Isn't the real issue that we haven't implemented the result, and did he not listen to David Melding and what he said? However strongly you back 'remain' or the EU, first of all you have to actually do what the referendum said, which is leave.
Mark Reckless: 3. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the Welsh Government's long-term strategy for taxation levels in Wales? OAQ53044
Mark Reckless: If the Cabinet Secretary is in charge, can we expect tax rates in Wales to be higher or lower in five years' time?
Mark Reckless: Could the Cabinet Secretary confirm the funding floor guarantee that the UK Government has provided in respect of spending in Wales, and compare and contrast that to any funding floor that was in place under previous Labour Governments in the UK?
Mark Reckless: Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on local authorities co-operating when drafting local development plans?
Mark Reckless: Does the Cabinet Secretary welcome how much more competitive our fruit and vegetable farmers have become against European producers with the lower exchange rate?
Mark Reckless: Paul Davies.
Mark Reckless: Will the First Minister make a statement on current Welsh Government policy on the M4 relief road?
Mark Reckless: 7. Will the Minister provide an update on the construction and planning of the Grange University Hospital? OAQ53138
Mark Reckless: In their preparations for a possible 'no deal' Brexit, the UK Ministers for the NHS, at least in England, proposed allowing pharmacists to substitute certain drugs for ones with similar effects, where their professional judgment supports that. Does the Minister agree that, actually, generally, we should be allowing pharmacists greater discretion to deploy their professional judgment to serve...
Mark Reckless: What proportion of the staff at the hospital would the Minister expect to want to live in Cwmbran and the locality of the hospital? Does he consider that sufficient housing is being built locally to satisfy that demand?
Mark Reckless: It's a pleasure to follow Mike Hedges, and I think most of the points he's made about council housing and the importance of building for social rent are well made. I would, however, emphasise that, whatever the exact target we have—and, in our motion, we call for, I think, 10,000 houses a year; the Government has a different target and perhaps different proportions, but, in all those, it's...
Mark Reckless: I will, yes.
Mark Reckless: Well, I thought I was in some agreement with the Member on this, and in particular, the Caerphilly LDP and going and ripping that up and looking to start again, and some of the proposals for building on Caerphilly mountain and how those would be dependent on car use and the need to link up with what was happening in the Cardiff LDP. I thought that was all sensible and I thought that there was...
Mark Reckless: May I congratulate the Member? But I just wanted to ask him: with higher house prices in our region, is that a way of getting some more of the development into north of the Caerphilly borough and, likewise, in Blaenau Gwent and Merthyr Tydfil councils where, sometimes, we've only seen 50 houses started in a year?
