Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch yn fawr iawn, Lywydd. I too welcome the Secretary of State here, possibly for the last time before he returns to the oblivion of Westminster. He did his best to present the Queen’s Speech as being something significant, whereas, in fact, everybody knows it’s just a rag-bag of relatively trivial and insignificant measures, because the Prime Minister wanted to clear the decks of...
Mr Neil Hamilton: It certainly is an opportunity to do that. I should declare an interest in this, by the way, because I’m a director of a company that specialises in sugar-free products, and so my interests are not actually prejudiced—. I’m not actually prejudiced by this measure, but I suppose technically I ought to declare that interest. The second objection to the tax that is proposed is it will hit...
Mr Neil Hamilton: It falls to me to congratulate first the Cabinet Secretary on her first outing in her new job, which I very warmly and genuinely extend to her. I’m sure she will be a great success in her job. But I’m afraid I can’t share the complacency that the answer I’ve just listened to exudes because there is a significant difference between different parts of Wales where there are significant...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch yn fawr, Lywydd. A yw'r Prif Weinidog wedi gweld bod cydgwmni mwyaf Ewrop, Siemens, yn cyfarfod heddiw, neu’r penwythnos yma, yn y Cotswolds i lunio ei strategaeth ôl-Brexit, ac y bydd Joe Kaesar, prif weithredwr Siemens yno? Mae wedi dweud bod Siemens wedi ymrwymo'n llawn i'r DU, beth bynnag fydd yn digwydd. Mae'n dweud, Rydym ni yma ar gyfer yr hirdymor...gan fod y DU yn lle da i...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I wholly agree with the First Minister on that. Free trade is obviously very sensible for both sides, because we have a massive trade deficit with Germany and it’s very much in their interests that there should be free trade within the EU. Trade is mutually beneficial to both sides, whether you have a surplus or a deficit. But in a spirit of constructive co-operation, will the First...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, I welcome that response. But turning to a different matter, after today, the First Minister will be unique in the United Kingdom, because we will have a woman Prime Minister in the UK, and we have a woman First Minister in Scotland and a woman First Minister in Northern Ireland. Does he look forward to the day when he can make way for a woman to replace him in this Assembly?
Mr Neil Hamilton: I’m sure that the Minister will join me in congratulating the Member for Aberavon on the eloquent, passionate and, indeed, moving defence of his constituents’ interests today. I certainly was very moved by what he had to say, but I’m afraid that the certainty that he seeks is simply not available. Mr Chatterjee, who is Tata Steel’s executive director for Europe, has made it perfectly...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I’m disappointed in the Cabinet Secretary, in whom I’d invested such high hopes a few weeks ago—[Interruption.]—when I welcomed him to his exalted position. I expressed the hope that, under his leadership, the Welsh economy would put its skates on. [Assembly Members: ‘Oh.’] Boom, boom. Unfortunately, he seems to have put it on the skids instead, as a result of the negative and...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I congratulate the Conservative group on choosing this topic for debate today and I commend Mark Isherwood on the excellent way in which he introduced it. Andrew Davies has already referred to the great privilege that we party leaders had, along with the Presiding Officer, in being able to attend the commemoration of the centenary of the battle of Mametz Wood last week. I’ve been attending...
Mr Neil Hamilton: But, there are so many cases where people who feel that they’ve not got what they needed out of the health service claim afterwards that the reason for that provision was, or rather, that those in the health service who didn’t understand their needs, did not identify that they were armed forces veterans and their status was simply not recognised or recorded by the staff who dealt with...
Mr Neil Hamilton: 1. Will the First Minister provide an update on what the Welsh Government is doing to assist with the GP crisis in Mid and West Wales? OAQ(5)0137(FM)
Mr Neil Hamilton: I’m grateful to the First Minister for that reply, but, as he knows, fine words butter no parsnips, and, for the people of Dwyfor Meirionnydd, I don’t think that they will derive much consolation from what he said. As he’s aware, a surgery in Porthmadog that served 7,500 people recently announced that it would see only those who are acutely unwell. In Blaenau Ffestiniog, a practice of...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Bydd y Prif Weinidog a minnau yn gallu cytuno ar un peth o leiaf—sef llongyfarch athletwyr Cymru ar eu perfformiad yn y Gemau Olympaidd ac ar ennill cynifer o fedalau aur. Nid wyf yn disgwyl iddo gytuno â mi, fodd bynnag, y dylai ef a'i weinyddiaeth gael y llwy bren am arllwys dŵr oer ar siawns Cymru o gynnal y cais i gael Gemau'r Gymanwlad yma yn 2026.
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, of course I accept the point about the capital costs of improving Wales’s infrastructure, but that’s justifiable in its own right. We’re talking here about probably something in the order of £1 billion to £1.5 billion amortised over 10 years in the first instance. In the context of a Welsh Government budget of £15 billion a year, we’re talking about peanuts. [Interruption.]...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, I’m sorry to say that the First Minister seems to have a rather static view of his functions as First Minister. Why don’t we take a more dynamic view of these projects? Other countries do and they can see the advantages of raising our aspirations. This is in a long line of projects that the Government has poured cold water on: M4 improvements, Circuit of Wales, and now the...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I welcome the statement and I welcome even more the First Minister’s answers, which I thought were very thoughtful, to the leader of the opposition, in particular his indication that it’s a free trade model that offers the best scope for Wales’s prosperity in the future. I also welcome his statement that the result of the referendum cannot and should not be ignored, which I infer means...
Mr Neil Hamilton: As regards the various models of the future that the First Minister referred to, it’s always dangerous when middle-aged men, of course, get involved with models—it usually ends in a rather bad way. [Interruption.]
Mr Neil Hamilton: But I was encouraged by what the First Minister said in his reply to the leader of the opposition, because there is no need for us to adopt any models that are already in existence. What we want is a British-designed solution to the future.
Mr Neil Hamilton: Or a Welsh one for that matter, yes, except that your own party doesn’t even believe in independence anymore, so that’s not on offer. So, the opportunity that this gives us is not just, of course, to do a free trade deal with the EU but also free trade deals with the rest of the world, and they are queuing up to do these deals with us. I can’t understand the First Minister’s pessimism...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Of course, talk is one thing and action is another. We’ve seen lots of talk and no action. Actually, the position is even worse, I’m afraid, than that which Paul Davies pointed out because today the figures have been announced for the next month after May and they’re even worse. In the 12 months to June 2016, there were 9,476 cattle slaughtered in Wales—a 43 per cent increase on the...
