Mark Reckless: Yes, Snowdon is the tallest mountain in England and Wales, absolutely—[Interruption.] The highest mountain in Wales as well. That is also true. I don't think it's the highest mountain in England, whatever Dafydd Elis-Thomas said previously. I do take the arguments seriously. There are many countries in the world that have federal systems, and one potential attraction of a federal system...
Mark Reckless: I will give way to David, who will educate me further on this point.
Mark Reckless: I agree there has been some waxing and waning in the power and influence of the states and, in particular, where a state comes out with a good policy idea and does things better than other states, often those other states will adopt it, or potentially the federal Government will seek to impose it. And yes, there are tensions in federalism, and it empowers a supreme court, but I would submit,...
Mark Reckless: Yes.
Mark Reckless: Rhun, I'm aware of your view; I just don't think it is very widely shared. Were England not to support the continuance of the current devolved system, I've little doubt that, in a forced vote, Wales would choose the status quo ante or near-unitary England and Wales Government, rather than independence. I believe, however, there were considerable drawbacks to that pre-1999 system, and...
Mark Reckless: Does he remember the wording on the ballot where it said, 'the Assembly cannot make laws on tax, whatever the result of this vote', and doesn't he think that should be respected?
Mark Reckless: Diolch, Llywydd. May I thank all Members for their contributions? I regret slightly the tone of the later two contributions from the Labour benches, because I thought many of the contributions before were very thoughtful and we were having a good debate. And may I remind, in particular, the Minister, when he speaks about subverting democracy, that Wales voted to leave the European Union. Now...
Mark Reckless: When you became First Minister, 60 per cent of people asked by YouGov said that they didn't know who you were. When YouGov asked again after you had been First Minister for a year, half of people in Wales still didn't know who you were or had any opinion about you. When they polled in Wales a month ago on who would make the best First Minister, 8 per cent of people answered 'Mark Drakeford',...
Mark Reckless: Thank you for your short answer, First Minister. In the referendum less than 10 years ago, the people of Wales were asked if they agreed to law-making powers being devolved in 20 specified areas. So, how do you justify now all powers being devolved except those that are reserved to Westminster? This afternoon, we vote on Welsh rates of income tax; yet, in that referendum, the people of Wales...
Mark Reckless: The Minister referred to these rates as applying to Welsh residents. Just a very slight correction: I think it's Wales's residents plus Neil Hamilton. The bravery we referred to just now—. It would have been brave if Members, particularly on the Conservative and Labour benches, had stood for election on the basis of a clear manifesto—'If you vote for us, we're going to devolve these rates...
Mark Reckless: I agreed, just now, with the description of this being a missed opportunity. We've seen the ending of austerity and the opportunity to have budget increases of a decent amount, and rather than prioritising and sending a key message as to where it's going with that, the tendency, I think, of this budget is to give relatively similar increases across a large number of areas, albeit with some...
Mark Reckless: 4. Will the Minister make a statement on the division of responsibilities for inspecting and keeping coal tips safe? OAQ55161
Mark Reckless: Thank you for that answer. It seems that—. My concern is that, when the First Minister said that all these organisations had responsibilities for inspecting these tips—I just worry whether there's any overlap of responsibility where one organisation may not be clear who’s doing what. In respect of Welsh Government owned land, is it solely a matter for NRW to assure you and us? And...
Mark Reckless: Diolch. I'm very pleased to hear from Angela again. I remember her being very persuasive in the Chamber before on this and I know the particular case she's had and the extraordinary work she's done as an AM to support that family. I was also quite struck by a recent tv documentary in the same area. Just looking at that facility, it was so much more prison-like than I had imagined. She says we...
Mark Reckless: There are difficulties in monitoring, and we should take those into account, but I don't think that the way to deal with that is to extend the Welsh regulation to English facilities, or think that that's a realistic way of dealing with that. I think that we need to have mutual recognition or equivalence of that, and trusted relationships with regulators. I'm not convinced about the proposal...
Mark Reckless: Postpartum psychosis, on the CYPE committee—. When we looked at this, we spoke with one lady who had come down to Cardiff when the facility was there, who would have preferred to go to Manchester. For many in north Wales, it works to go to the mother and baby unit and a hospital in Manchester, and that will be preferable to being made to come down to Cardiff, further from their families.
Mark Reckless: Diolch, Llywydd. First Minister, if I may turn to flooding, the industry association for forestry businesses, Confor, says that Welsh Government's and NRW's interpretation of the Environment (Wales) Act 2016 resists changes to any landscape where the habitat or designation is not for woodland. Given the flood mitigation benefits of tree planting on uplands, and the opportunities for...
Mark Reckless: I welcome the Minister giving that reconsideration. However, Confor also mentioned the issue of where a landscape is designated in some other way, say an upland sort of moorland, that they find there is a presumption against tree planting in those areas. And they can be much cheaper areas, say £1,000 a hectare, rather than several thousand, making the planting much more economic and likely...
Mark Reckless: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Could I ask the finance Minister to explain how her strategy in terms of business rates relief in Wales differs from that being pursued by the UK Government? They announced today that the 50 per cent retail discount that they have next year is going up to 100 per cent and being extended to leisure and hospitality. Is that an approach that she is attracted to? And the...
Mark Reckless: Of course, there may be a case for doing it somewhat differently in Wales, but we have a £360 million consequential for next year just announced, and the retail but also the hospitality and leisure businesses are public-facing businesses that we may expect to be particularly affected by coronavirus and all the implications of that. And it does strike me that what the Chancellor has announced...
