Rhianon Passmore: Diolch, Deputy Llywydd. I agree with my colleagues Joyce Watson and Carolyn Thomas. This unfine economic mess that we're in is not just purely the fault to be laid at Putin's war. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the OECD, today—today—has reported that the UK is one of the worst performing economies in the world amongst the richest economies. So, I fail to...
Rhianon Passmore: —in future trivia pub questions, his policies of austerity are not trivial. My question—I will come straight to it, Deputy Llywydd: what more can the Welsh Government do to mitigate this misery being inflicted unrelentingly on the people of Islwyn and Wales by this UK Conservative Government's political choices?
Rhianon Passmore: As a member, also, of the Finance Committee, I was very keen that the committee undertake this hugely important piece of work for Wales as a matter of priority, both for fairness and honesty and fair funding as principle, and for the fulfillment of political promise and trust and so that Wales is also not treated with disdain. This is because Wales was the largest recipient of EU funding...
Rhianon Passmore: 5. How is the Welsh Government encouraging local authorities to enhance urban green infrastructure in Gwent? OQ58964
Rhianon Passmore: Thank you, Minister. Tory austerity is now a teenager; it's almost 13 years of age, and it continues to decimate local government budgets—this is despite the heroic efforts of Welsh Government. Caerphilly County Borough Council has just unveiled its draft budget proposals for 2023-24, along with the detail of how it plans to plug the projected £48 million gap in finances over the following...
Rhianon Passmore: 8. Will the First Minister provide an update on the working relationship between the Welsh Government and the UK Government? OQ59022
Rhianon Passmore: First Minister, it is important that all of us here in Senedd Cymru, the Welsh Parliament, are candid about the real challenges facing our beloved national health service right across the four nations of the United Kingdom. In England, in December, calls from people with life-threatening illness or injuries saw an ambulance response time of 10 minutes and 57 seconds. In Wales, in December,...
Rhianon Passmore: Diolch, First Minister. Downing Street last week sought to deny reports that Tory MPs in marginal seats have been told to stop using the phrase 'levelling up' ahead of the next election, because voters did not know what it meant, and instead use 'stepping up' or 'enhancing communities'. First Minister, no wonder no-one can understand's Boris Johnson's now unloved levelling up concept, as...
Rhianon Passmore: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd, and thank you, Minister, for your statement. The sheer extent of the evil of the Holocaust remains unfathomable to comprehension. I have also had the honour and privilege of speaking to a number of Holocaust survivors now: children, people, human beings, and it was and is evil in its purest. A number of Members have spoken to the horrors of the Rwanda genocide, but I...
Rhianon Passmore: May I sincerely thank Delyth Jewell, the committee Chair, and her fellow committee members for this important report placed before the Senedd today? I believe that all of us in this Chamber understand that culture and sport are totally integral to the fabric and identity of Welsh life. We know that our cultural and sporting organisations barely endured the financial storm that the COVID...
Rhianon Passmore: I stated yesterday in First Minister's questions that it is important that all of us here in Senedd Cymru, the Welsh Parliament, are candid about the very real challenges facing our beloved national health service right across the four nations of the United Kingdom. There is no corner of the United Kingdom that has not seen extensive pressures on each of its own constituent parts of the...
Rhianon Passmore: Yes.
Rhianon Passmore: I absolutely agree with that, Jenny Rathbone; we have a whole host of different mechanisms of seeking healthcare. But this is an important discussion, and I'm going to develop it. We know that another crucial facet of what we must address is ambulance waiting times in Wales. Nobody should die from an excessive wait for an ambulance. Now we know that new ambulance training posts are real. But...
Rhianon Passmore: I really want to finish, if you don't mind. This has been advanced by former English health Minister Sajid Javid. These are your party's policies. He wants to explore people paying to see a GP—with everything that Sioned Williams has just articulated—and believes in opening up the NHS to the free market. This is what is at stake. With the Tories, it's always the same: they want to shrink...
Rhianon Passmore: —and claim this so-called better way.
Rhianon Passmore: And finally, Deputy Llywydd, I will be voting for the amendment as proposed by Lesley Griffiths. Thank you.
Rhianon Passmore: Will you take an intervention?
Rhianon Passmore: With the greatest respect, I recognise the unprecedented challenges. I do not feel, in terms of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, that it is helpful to label and use semantics about something that's of such great proportional interest to the people of Wales, and I did not say that.
Rhianon Passmore: 2. What is the Welsh Government doing to aid post-pandemic economic renewal in Islwyn? OQ59069
Rhianon Passmore: Diolch, Trefnydd. Thank you. A popular independent cafe, called Marmajo's, had premises on Pen-y-fan industrial estate in Crumlin until it very recently closed, and the owner, Charlie Allcock, reluctantly made a really hard decision, after watching her energy bills triple, to almost £1,800 a month. Also, in Pontllanfraith, the Islwyn bowls club reopened following the pandemic restrictions,...
