Leanne Wood: It’s your policy.
Leanne Wood: It’s your policy.
Leanne Wood: Today’s statement marks the latest phase in the Labour Government’s winding down of Communities First, which was once described as its flagship anti-poverty programme. I would share the disappointment felt by many about the lack of progress in terms of reducing poverty in Wales, and I would like to add Plaid Cymru’s thanks to the existing workforce. Communities First has been a matter...
Leanne Wood: How is that going?
Leanne Wood: You are the Minister.
Leanne Wood: Diolch, Lywydd. Leader of the house, you’ll be aware that, over the past few years, I have pressed the First Minister on the question of widening access to drugs and treatments in Wales. Today, we’ve got some people in the public gallery who are living with multiple sclerosis, and I’d like to welcome them to the Senedd. They’ve asked me to take forward an issue that is of utmost...
Leanne Wood: Thank you, leader of the house. We know that Wales was the first country in the UK to approve Sativex, which is a cannabis-based drug, and that was approved back in 2014. The evidence from patients who are prescribed Sativex is consistent and clear: it’s effective, it reduces pain, it reduces spasms, but access to the drug is patchy. A survey for the MS Society found that only 1 per cent of...
Leanne Wood: Well, I very much hope that we do see extra resources for this, leader of the house. The lack of availability of Sativex has led people to pursue alternatives of their own. I recently met with a 64-year-old woman from Cwmbran who has primary progressive MS. She experiences pain and spasms on a daily basis, and her daily drug regime includes morphine, codeine, paracetamol, pregabalin and...
Leanne Wood: Leader of the house, you’ll be aware of the case of the schoolteacher Juhel Miah who was last week stopped from travelling to the United States via Iceland on a school trip. Juhel is a maths teacher in Llangatwg school. He’s Welsh; he was born in Swansea. He’s also a Muslim with a Bangladeshi name. He’s widely respected by colleagues and loved by pupils. What we see now is a climate...
Leanne Wood: Diolch, Lywydd. First Minister, on 16 January, you introduced the Trade Union (Wales) Bill. The intention of that Bill is to disapply aspects of the UK Government’s Trade Union Act 2016. Plaid Cymru supports this—we believe that industrial relations should be decided upon here and not in Westminster. Your trade union Bill will be in competence under the Assembly’s current powers. Do you...
Leanne Wood: The Wales Act implements a heavy list of restrictions, and industrial relations is one of those restrictions. We heard from the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee yesterday that the UK Government intends to legislate on industrial relations once the Wales Act 2017 is in force—they use the words ‘at the earliest opportunity’. If you want to reduce strike action, the best...
Leanne Wood: Thank you. I wonder if we’ll now see another Supreme Court case, and I’m sure that you’d agree that that would be a damning verdict on the Wales Act. Plaid Cymru voted against the legislative competence motion on the Wales Act because we were of the view that it could lead to a Westminster power grab. Would you agree that this now looks like a vindication of our position on that vote?...
Leanne Wood: International Women’s Day is a day of celebration across the world. It’s a day to come together to mark the achievements and successes of women, often in adverse conditions, in all spheres. It’s not just a time for celebration, it’s also a time for reflection, a time to realise that there’s still so much to do in terms of gender equality. It might be 2017, but we face the risk of...
Leanne Wood: Diolch, Lywydd. Leader of the house, although our economic potential is yet to be fulfilled, we can already see that Wales is a strong exporting nation. Last year, we had a £2.2 billion trade surplus with the EU. Our surplus was higher than in 2015, when it was £1.5 billion. With non-EU countries, we had a trade deficit of £2.3 billion, while the UK as a whole had trade deficits with both...
Leanne Wood: Plaid Cymru predicts a difficult future for those exporters who rely upon the single market. We now have some in the UK Government talking about leaving the EU without any deal at all, which will effectively mean World Trade Organization rules. That would be the hardest possible type of Brexit. It could lead to future tariffs and other barriers. And on the social and environmental side, it...
Leanne Wood: It’s fairly clear what your Government wants What’s not clear is what you’ll do if you don’t get it. Yesterday, we saw how the mishandling of Brexit will lead to a new referendum on Scottish independence. That referendum could end the United Kingdom. The state, as we know it, could cease to exist, and that would be a radical change for Wales. But it would also create the opportunity...
Leanne Wood: Well, it’s clear that Wales is so wealthy and so prosperous that the status quo is the only option for us, isn’t it? First Minister, in recent years there have been a number of scandals concerning the quality of treatment of some patients in some wards in the Welsh NHS. How confident are you that the systems for identifying and correcting problems are now robust enough to prevent another...
Leanne Wood: First Minister, one area of hospital treatment where problems have regularly been identified is that of hospital nutrition and hydration. Hospital nutrition is a basic healthcare need, I’m sure you’ll agree with me on that. Now, yesterday, the Public Accounts Committee released another report on nutrition, and this is five years after the last report on nutrition. The report found, and I...
Leanne Wood: How many reports do we need, First Minister? The report highlighted that 9 per cent of patients were not being given enough water to drink. There are other areas where progress is non-existent—no progress on a computerised catering information system, and that problem was identified back in 2011. Not a single health board has a named director with responsibility for nutrition, and not a...
Leanne Wood: Diolch, Llywydd. Tomorrow, the UK Government will trigger article 50, beginning the process by which the UK, or at least some parts of the UK, will leave the European Union. You’ve previously said that you expected to be consulted prior to article 50 notification being made. Can you tell us what consultation has taken place and, also, what you expect to see in the article 50 letter?
