Mark Reckless: Diolch, Llywydd. I move the Brexit Party group's motion to welcome the UK Internal Market Bill, the second reading of which passed the House of Commons on Monday night with a majority of 77. I congratulate Members on the Conservative benches for their Government bringing this Bill forward and belatedly addressing some of the shortcomings in the withdrawal agreement of which my party has...
Mark Reckless: I look forward to hearing the contribution from the ex-First Minister later. Is he allowed to intervene, Llywydd, or is that not parliamentary at the moment? Okay. Why should we split—[Interruption.] Wait till you hear this one. Why should we split the UK single market and customs union along the Irish sea when a Northern Ireland border could instead be avoided by the EU making checks...
Mark Reckless: We shall see. I look forward to listening to Members from across the Chamber and beyond debate the merits or otherwise of the devolution consequences of this Bill, and I hope to respond to them in appropriate detail when concluding the debate. However, I would not be surprised if I hear some Members contend that this Bill represents a power grab against devolution while others maintain it is...
Mark Reckless: Diolch, Llywydd. And may I thank everyone very much indeed for their contributions, which I thought were largely temperate in tone? I think the debate, both here and in Westminster, is perhaps better today than it was a few days ago. Neil Hamilton opened the debate, not to universal acclaim, I have to say, in the Chamber, but thank you, Neil. You referred to your campaigning also all your...
Mark Reckless: We then had Carwyn Jones, the ex-First Minister, reminding us again of the 1988 Good Friday Agreement, which he's spoken of, I recall, a number of times in this Chamber. I was a little surprised by his comments immediately after that, because he explained that it was widespread practice of states to break international law, but what he objected to was the honesty of Brandon Lewis in admitting...
Mark Reckless: First Minister, I'm astonished by that answer in respect to your health Minister having said yesterday that you had the power to mandate vaccination, suggesting that people in Wales might be forcibly injected with a COVID vaccine. Is that what devolution has come to? Surely, such a programme of forced injections would break international law, or is that only a concern when you want to impede...
Mark Reckless: First Minister, I could easily say the same to you in respect of what you've said about the internal market Bill and what you say would be a breach of the law and international law from the Prime Minister. Your health Minister said yesterday that he should keep open the option of forcibly vaccinating people with a COVID vaccine in Wales. You said just now that he was right to keep that option...
Mark Reckless: Minister, you thanked childcare providers and their staff for everything they've been doing. May I also thank you and Welsh Government for what you've been doing in this area? I'm impressed with the childcare offer as it's been delivered. You have it in your manifesto, but you've actually gone ahead and done it, it came in ahead of schedule, and I'm particularly pleased that you're being at...
Mark Reckless: I agree with what's been said about increasingly ridiculous debating things over a month after they've happened, while in the real world, new stuff is going through, often going in a different direction, at the same time we're talking about the old stuff. I'm grateful, though, for the health Minister including in his contribution what I thought were some references to the local council-based...
Mark Reckless: 3. What assessment has the Minister made of the UK Government's proposals to provide funding to complete the M4 relief road? OQ55554
Mark Reckless: First Minister, Andrew R.T. Davies, very generously I thought, said he bitterly regretted that you weren't in a position to make the announcement to the Senedd yesterday. Isn't the reality, as described by Adam Price, that you preferred not to? You preferred instead to give that pre-recorded interview, saying pretty much what you've just said now, pretty much what you could have said to the...
Mark Reckless: The First Minister, a couple of weeks ago, was asked, I believe, about income tax rises, potentially, next year, and I think he replied that, with COVID, the economy was so weak that it'd be wrong to contemplate any increase in income tax. Does that mean that income tax rises should only be considered when the economy is strong?
Mark Reckless: Given the very significant impact on the Welsh Government's finances of the COVID crisis, and, in particular, the likely reduction in tax yield because of more stringent measures in Wales compared to what the UK Government has done for England, how, ultimately, does the Minister expect to put the public finances back on a sustainable footing? Will she be cutting spending? Will she be...
Mark Reckless: That's not what everyone in the UK Government says, is it? You referred earlier, Minister, to what you said were two clauses that could not be more damaging to Wales. If I understood correctly, those were two clauses enabling, or at least confirming, the ability of UK Government to spend money in devolved areas over and above money already committed by devolved Government. Surely, for most...
Mark Reckless: First Minister, when you put Cardiff into local lockdown, and through the force of law required people to work from home if reasonably practicable, did you consider the potential impact of that on our proceedings in the Senedd? Now, if you're correct when you say Members are equally able to participate, whether remotely or in person, doesn't that imply that it is reasonably practicable for...
Mark Reckless: First Minister, you say you're working from your office because it's reasonably practicable to do so, but isn't the law that you must work from home if it is reasonably practicable to do so? And given it's equally possible to participate remotely and physically, would not that be the case? Yet you choose not to come to the Chamber, just as you chose last week to make announcements not in the...
Mark Reckless: I thank the Minister for his statement. I share Andrew R.T.'s disappointment that he's decided to make it from his office in Cathays Park; he's gone rather further from home to get there than he would to come to the Senedd. I do, though, appreciate we're slightly less delayed doing these regulations than some of the others that we've done before. It's our intention to vote against these...
Mark Reckless: First Minister, could I caution you against describing people as disgraceful just because they—in this case, Conservative Members in north Wales—take a different view on coronavirus restrictions to that you have and ask questions about it? Your Government has a stated long-term ambition for 30 per cent homeworking in Wales, even post pandemic. You say you'd achieve this by driving changes...
Mark Reckless: So, for those independent businesses serving commuters, 'Tough.' First Minister, when UK Government suggests it might pay for the M4 relief road, a project you promised but then said you couldn't afford, you and your colleagues react as if it's an assault on devolution, but you show little sign yourself of respecting the devolution settlement. You seek to enforce a border with England by...
Mark Reckless: I thank the Minister for the statement. I was encouraged when I saw the title of it, 'Update on fiscal impacts of COVID-19'. I've been pressing her for something along those lines for quite some while. I have to say that I was somewhat disappointed in the contents. I had hoped that we might be able to give estimates or updates about what the impact, for instance, would be on land transaction...
