Adam Price: Diolch, Llywydd. First Minister, the Labour Party manifesto in 2011 committed to requiring GPs to make surgeries more accessible to working people so they can access local GP services in the evenings and Saturday mornings. Can you please update Members on the progress the Welsh Labour Government has made to ensure that patients can access services at a time most convenient to them?
Adam Price: Well, let me go through the lack of progress that you have made, and you've admitted the lack of progress that you've made in detail. In terms even of core hours—core daily hours—last year showed a decline in the number of GP practices even being able to offer that within three health boards—Aneurin Bevan, Cwm Taf and Powys. Another aspect of your commitment focused on extending...
Adam Price: Patients who are seeking to access those services, who are unable to do so at a time that actually works for them, I think, may give a very, very different response to the one the First Minister has just given. But just to tease a little bit further his answer out: is he saying that part of the decision as to why you dropped this pledge was because it wasn't effective, not just in terms of...
Adam Price: First Minister, thank you for these 20 propositions on reforming the union, which make interesting reading, much as Luther's 95 theses nailed to the door of that church in Wittenberg did all those years ago. Many of the implicit or explicit criticisms of the union we would agree with; we agree on much of the diagnosis. We differ, of course, on the solution. Now, as Martin Luther even...
Adam Price: Now, I think there's much to welcome in the document in terms of some of the specific proposals. I would like the First Minister just to explain the interrelationship between what he sets out and the work that he's asked Alun Davies to conduct and the report that will be forthcoming, I believe in the spring, about the future of the United Kingdom. We obviously now welcome, as has been...
Adam Price: First Minister, we all want to get to our destination quicker and in greater comfort, and promises made to Welsh train travellers in this regard should be promises kept. Transport for Wales said that outdated Pacer trains would be taken out of service by the end of this year, but we now know, as you confirmed last week, this commitment will not be met. Pacers will also remain in service on...
Adam Price: So, if I follow the First Minister, what I think he's saying is that the reason for the extension of the use of the Pacer trains—it's not just a legacy of the last franchise, it's a consequence of some of the procurement decisions and the problems with that made under this one. Now, can you confirm that Arriva ordered four to five-car Flex trains, as I think they're called, and that...
Adam Price: What I actually said was that it doesn't appear to be a legacy problem. If you— through Transport for Wales, if the Government has procured a technology that doesn't actually work, then it's you who should have done the due diligence, and the responsibility lies with you. Now, transforming our twentieth-century rail infrastructure demands a radical approach overall. If I wanted to make the...
Adam Price: Once again, politics, our Parliament, the countries of these islands, have been forced to the edge of a precipice by one of the most irresponsible, reckless Governments that we've ever seen. A decision, which, I think we all accept, is one of the most momentous that any Parliament will have made in generations is going to be forced through in a matter of days. A Bill, running at over 100...
Adam Price: Two of the 11 Catalan political prisoners are personal friends of mine. I went to Madrid penitentiary VI to visit them, and I asked them, 'What did you say to the likes of those who would say, "Well, look, the European Union—"'. And I regret the response of the European Union, and some of the member states—not all—including the UK Government, have been terrible on this. 'But what would...
Adam Price: Come on, give way.
Adam Price: I'm very grateful to you. In the situation of an absence of consent for the nature of these developments, does she agree with me that there will be an accelerated move—? If we have a 'no deal' Brexit in 11 days or 11 months, it will accelerate the shift towards a unity referendum in the north of Ireland, to an independence referendum in Scotland, and, as we have said, there is a strong case...
Adam Price: Diolch, Llywydd. First Minister, can you say if achieving a score of 500 in each domain of the PISA global education rankings, in reading, mathematics and science, is still the policy of your Government? And can you confirm that the figures for Wales will be published alongside all the other international figures on 3 December, unencumbered by the rules around pre-election period announcements?
Adam Price: First Minister, I believe it's normal practice for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to give advance notice to Governments, summarising the scores before the official announcement. Have you already received such advance notice, and can you say if you expect significant progress to have been made to achieving your target?
Adam Price: First Minister, your education Minister said in 2017 that we need to make progress in the next set of PISA results if we're to hit the next target. If the news for Wales on 3 December isn't positive at all, or isn't positive enough, what will the response of the Government be in that situation? Will you accept that the strategy isn't working? We've had a PISA target since 2006 after all. Will...
Adam Price: First Minister, in 2017, the Labour manifesto contained an explicit commitment to devolve policing to Wales. Your 2019 manifesto does not. Why?
Adam Price: Yes, you're right, the manifesto does refer to the report, and it uses the language of 'working with' and 'considering the report', but why couldn't there be a cast-iron commitment at least to devolve policing, and then to go further and deliver the recommendations of the report? This is a rowing back, effectively, from the position that you had in the 2017 manifesto. Now, the paper...
Adam Price: Well the paragraph, actually, on the need for reform is exactly the same. It's cut and pasted from the 2017 manifesto. I would have—. Given that you have set out this 20-point plan—and it's good to have references in a manifesto, but I would have expected progress, that you actually would have been able to make a cast-iron explicit manifesto commitment to scrapping the Barnett formula,...
Adam Price: Given the seriousness of what's happened at Cwm Taf, should we not have expected a Labour shadow Cabinet Minister speaking at the Senedd to have familiarised themselves with this tragic case? Or is it simply true that Wales matters as little to the Labour frontbench in Westminster as it does to the Tories?
Adam Price: Surely, the fact that a Labour shadow Cabinet Minister called for an inquiry on Friday, then had to withdraw that on the Sunday, simply because they hadn't shown I think what we would expect from them, which is a decent level of interest in what is happening to people in Wales—. It happened on the Friday, and you'd have thought, having been caught out once by their indifference and...
