Andrew RT Davies: First Minister, it’s a pleasure to say a few words in this statement, as you and I have jostled over this Chamber for nearly seven of the nine years that you’ve served as First Minister. Much of that debate and the elections that I fought you under were a fat lot of good to me—[Laughter.]—because you stayed in that chair and I stayed on this side. But I well remember the first time...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Minister, back in ministerial questions in February, you indicated that when it came to issuing environmental impact assessments, you were minded to grant such an assessment to be made on the Barry incinerator. That was in ministerial questions. It is important that, when Ministers speak in this Chamber, obviously, people from beyond this Chamber, as well as...
Andrew RT Davies: I hear, Minister, what your international obligations are, and no-one on this side of the Chamber, or indeed anywhere in this Chamber, I would assume, would be calling on you to break such obligations, but some 300 days have passed since you made that commitment in February. Whether it be Barry or any other part of Wales, when a Minister makes such a pronouncement, it is expedient for that...
Andrew RT Davies: Well, that is a bitterly disappointing answer, given that I could understand that type of answer coming to me maybe a month, two months, perhaps three months after you initially stated your position, but some eight months on you are still trotting out that answer. Now, I did have a written reply from the Minister yesterday indicating that there were legal considerations that the Government...
Andrew RT Davies: Cabinet Secretary, as you've just stated, antibiotic use does need to decline, without a shadow of a doubt, but it also has an effective role, obviously, in looking after animal health and well-being. There is a balance to be struck. What exercises have Farming Connect in particular undertaken to promote awareness around antibiotic use in the agricultural community? And if there hasn't been...
Andrew RT Davies: Paul Davies.
Andrew RT Davies: I welcome the opportunity to contribute in the debate this afternoon. In the environment committee, we have looked at this particular issue, taking evidence from Dŵr Cymru and other organisations over the engineering problems that this waste issue causes, but also the financial problems as well, and the public awareness. Lots of these blockages quite clearly happen under our feet in the...
Andrew RT Davies: I well remember being on the first Petitions Committee in this institution, and we had the plastic bag charge come forward then. And, actually, if you went to a supermarket 10 years ago and you asked for a plastic bag you were expecting to receive that, and actually it was rather odd if you didn't get a plastic bag. Today, if you stand at that counter and ask for a plastic bag, you are...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. It’s a pleasure to move the short debate this evening. I’m just checking to see if John has got his phone on or off for my last contribution. It’s a pleasure also to give a minute of my time to Angela Burns and Bethan at the end of my contribution. And to highlight the importance of this debate, we will be having a short video presentation at some point,...
Andrew RT Davies: Regrettably, Wales is now renowned as a hotspot for some of these despicable practices, with a significant number of puppy farms situated in the counties of Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion. In fact, rural south-west Wales has the biggest concentration in the whole of the United Kingdom of commercial dog breeders, and it is a sadly widely known fact that it has been churning out puppies in...
Andrew RT Davies: The commercial market in kittens differs slightly to puppies. The vast majority of third-party sales of kittens occur from physical high-street pet shops. Cat breeding, unlike dog breeding, is not regulated, and pet shops can be an inappropriate environment for kittens. Young kittens sold in pet shops are not always provided with adequate space, an appropriate environment or pen design, a...
Andrew RT Davies: I think what most politicians can agree, First Minister, is that the current planning system is very cumbersome and doesn't serve many people very well, to be fair. Local development plans get bogged down and, very often, delayed. What priority do you, as a new First Minister, give to revamping the planning system here in Wales, so that we do have a planning system that is fit for purpose,...
Andrew RT Davies: Leader of the house—no, it's not leader of the house anymore, is it? It's organiser—organiser. Can the organiser please arrange for a statement to come forward from the planning Minister in relation to a Welsh Government decision that was made on the Hendy windfarm? I've raised this several times with her predecessor, but there are two issues that do need clarifying here. One: who is...
Andrew RT Davies: Minister, I'm interested to explore the right for lifelong learning that you said, obviously, you've signed up to with the new First Minister. I met the FE colleges the other day and they made the point that their average age of learner is about 25, it is, rather than someone who's 16 or 17, and, through the modern workplace, it is about constant evaluation and constant challenge. What do you...
Andrew RT Davies: Minister, I'm grateful for the statement that you issued this morning. To the normal reader looking at this it would clearly indicate that this decision was taken out of the normal cycle of evaluation. I think I'm correct in saying that, but if you could confirm that I'd be grateful, because it would look to me as if a special meeting had been called in December for this measure to be taken...
Andrew RT Davies: 6. Will the First Minister outline the Welsh Government's economic priorities for South Wales Central? OAQ53167
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, First Minister, for that answer. Obviously, people, places, require good transport links. We know much about the metro system that is promised over the coming years. But a decision that was in your predecessor's inbox and is now in your inbox, the M4 relief road, is desperately required. It will dramatically improve the fortunes of the area that I represent, South Wales Central....
Andrew RT Davies: Minister, you made a big call when you responded to the Member from Anglesey, when you said that the site should be considered for nationalisation. Is that official Welsh Government policy that this scheme should be nationalised, because, as I said, that is a really big call? And I'd be interested to know what the Welsh Government's position is on nuclear power more generally, because,...
Andrew RT Davies: Minister, thank you for your comments this afternoon, and also last Wednesday, and in particular last Wednesday where you fully endorsed the Welsh Government's support for nuclear energy, which obviously was a concern for some people given the recent leadership race that was undertaken within the Labour Party. But what is important to understand is, as Horizon and Hitachi have pointed out,...
Andrew RT Davies: Minister, thank you for your statement this afternoon. I am someone who does believe that there should be a deal when we leave the European Union. I think that is a sensible course of action. Whenever you split from any organisation or any individual, or in a company disagreement, you're better doing it on an amicable basis, on agreed terms, than a violent shutdown. And I do hope that, in the...
