Hefin David: ..., but it appears to me that the referendum campaign was none of those things. Today, we feel the divisive effects on our nation. And I’m reflecting on what Leanne Wood said about proportional representation; I’m of an open mind, the only thing that concerns me is, perhaps in 2011, if we’d had a truly proportional system to elect to this place, we may have seen BNP members elected at...
Hefin David: Yes, I absolutely agree with that, and the Member for Cardiff North seems to have had very similar representations to those that I’ve had. Therefore, if we are to vote with the Government today, I’d suggest that we ask the Minister to provide some assurances in her response that these issues are going to be addressed and closely monitored, and that the need for future legislation...
Hefin David: 4. What discussions has the Counsel General held regarding increasing diversity in representations to the Supreme Court? (OAQ51152)
Hefin David: Well, that's not a responsible representation of what I said, and what I said is: we are operating within a UK Government budget context in which it has cut back mercilessly, and those merciless cuts have fed back to the Welsh Government. I think that Nick Ramsay knows very well that's exactly what I just said. I will be supporting this budget this afternoon, because I have every confidence...
Hefin David: ...is developed in areas like Bargoed and further north, and moving away from those already congested areas. And the Cabinet Secretary for environment is here, and she will know that I've made those representations to her on many an occasion. Therefore, the strategic hub must enable the latter and guard against the former. If we can improve transport links, then I think that begins to answer...
Hefin David: ....' And sure enough, I did, I found out. And what Caerphilly council has done is to establish a plastics challenge project group, which consists of a number of its own officers, together with representation from the Welsh Government, WRAP Cymru and Eunomia Research. They are considering the issue of problematic plastics, particularly in the context of waste management and waste prevention....
Hefin David: I appreciate the constraint that the Counsel General identifies, but in Plenary on 20 March it was agreed the Welsh Government would make representations to the UK Government in support of the Women Against State Pension Inequality state pension campaigners, many of whom are my constituents and have been in touch directly with me. The Deputy Minister and the Chief Whip also confirmed the...
Hefin David: ...a referendum on that. There's a simple choice for you—there's no unintended consequences there. I think the problem is our democracy is broken. I haven't been a strong advocate of proportional representation in the past and I regret that, because I think the only way we're going to make a way forward in the future and enable us not to need referenda in the future is by having a properly...
Hefin David: ...across the Chamber. I've spoken to the leader of Plaid Cymru and to Siân Gwenllian today, I've spoken to Jayne Bryant, and one of the things that Jayne Bryant said to me is we need to look at representation as a whole across the UK and how our representation works. I buy into that argument. One of the things I was disappointed with Plaid Cymru—I could have signed up to their motion...
Hefin David: ...licensing of animal exhibits regulations that the Minister has mentioned, and I would hope that there would be the opportunity to clean issues up through that as well, although I've also had representations from constituents who are concerned about the impact of that on dog shows. So, you know, you try and do one thing and something else goes wrong, as is politics. But I think, in short,...
Hefin David: ...these difficult times, it's difficult to say when exactly that will be—so, some form of timescale about how that decision will be made. People, particularly in Forge Mill, have made very strong representations about this.
Hefin David: ...YC—it's my hometown, it was where I was born, where I was brought up. We've got grave concerns about the effect that this will have on grass-roots football in South Wales East, which will have no representation in the women's premier league. At the very least, given the investment the Welsh Government has put into grass-roots sport, we deserve transparency, and that is what we are...
Hefin David: ...benches, and at the time I had grave concerns about what was said, and there was a lot of concerns raised in this Chamber about that. But we need to remember the trade unions are the most effective representation of the workforce that has been seen in this country. I’ve had conversations with my own trade union, Unison, about this issue, and I’m very glad to have had that conversation,...
Hefin David: My question was going to be very similar to Russell George's, so I'll adjust it slightly to say that I've had the same kind of representations. One constituent particularly has asked for exams not to take place this year. Now, that's not a view that I actually support, because I think if we're going to move away from exams it needs to be done in a strategic and planned way. But certainly it...
