Leanne Wood: Leanne Wood.
Leanne Wood: Diolch yn fawr iawn, Lywydd. This today is not about coalition. Today is a one-off vote to allow Labour’s nomination to go through. If that party thinks that their bullying last week will stop Plaid Cymru from voting in a similar way in the future, to hold you to account, then think again. I’m not sorry for what happened last week and I will do it again if I have to make Labour realise...
Leanne Wood: In this new term, Plaid Cymru will be the most effective opposition this National Assembly has ever seen. We will take our responsibilities seriously and we will be constructive. Much has been written and spoken about in relation to political alignment in the past week or so; in that respect, people need to know that the only card that Plaid Cymru will play will be the Wales card, and we will...
Leanne Wood: Diolch, Lywydd. I’d like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to Cardiff campaigner Annie Mulholland, who sadly passed away on Sunday after fighting a long battle with cancer. Annie was a vociferous campaigner for a new drugs and treatments fund to end the postcode lottery and the exceptionality clauses, which would mean that patients would no longer be forced to move to a different...
Leanne Wood: You should be commended, I think, First Minister, for your movement on this point because, during the election campaign, both you and your candidates argued against the ending of the postcode lottery and this question of exceptionality. You also failed to meet with campaigners from the Hawl i Fyw campaign. Will you now agree to meet Irfon and Rebecca Williams from that campaign group so that...
Leanne Wood: I welcome that commitment from you this afternoon, First Minister. Campaigners and charities warmly welcomed last week’s agreement between Plaid Cymru and Labour on this matter, because of that specific commitment to create a fairer and more equitable system here in Wales. This commitment would not have been there were it not for those campaigners. Will you give a commitment today that you...
Leanne Wood: Diolch, Lywydd. I don’t have too many questions for the First Minister on this, and I would like to congratulate all his appointees. Llongyfarchiadau i chi gyd. First Minister, you said earlier in answer to questions that all of your Members would be bound by collective Cabinet responsibility. How then will you resolve difficult questions like whether or not the M4 black route goes ahead,...
Leanne Wood: Diolch, Lywydd. Well, it looks like you might be able to strike a deal with UKIP, First Minister, on the future of the black route. How very interesting. [Laughter.] Last night, there was a TV debate about the EU referendum, and the voter registration system crashed just before the deadline of midnight. Will you join with me and others calling for an extension to the online voter registration...
Leanne Wood: Thank you, First Minister. You’ll recall how the former ASW workers from here in Cardiff lost their pensions when their company collapsed a few years ago. It was the existence of a 1980 EU directive that was found by my colleague Adam Price, when he was a Plaid Cymru MP, which forced the Government—at the time, it was a Labour Government—to create the financial assistance scheme and the...
Leanne Wood: Diolch, First Minister. Now, a lot of the debate so far has been less about providing accurate information that people are able to make an informed choice upon, and more about scaremongering. Will you join me in condemning the dog-whistle politics from the far right that seeks to invoke racist imagery and exploit people’s fears with statements that infer that a vote to remain within the...
Leanne Wood: Yesterday, the Secretary of State for Wales stated that the new Wales Bill would ensure that our democracy comes of age through a Bill that delivers permanency and accountability. It appears to Plaid Cymru that the UK Government’s words, once again, appear to be hollow. The new Wales Bill will entrench Wales’s status as the poor relation in this union, limiting our democratically elected...
Leanne Wood: Diolch, Lywydd. I’m sure, First Minister, that you will have shared the warm feelings that I felt on seeing images of the Welsh fans in France singing and linking arms with fellow fans. They were ambassadors for our nation. I thought those images captured something about the naturalness of our place as Wales within Europe, singing with Slovakians—people from another small nation,...
Leanne Wood: We agree, First Minister, on our unity within Europe, and let’s just leave it at that for now. We are, in Wales, the most export-intensive nation within the UK. We’ve got a balance of trade payments surplus in terms of goods with the EU, and that isn’t the case for the UK. Uncertainty, therefore, will impact more upon Welsh businesses and the Welsh economy. We’ll be affected...
Leanne Wood: I share your concerns, First Minister, and I think we need to think very carefully about what happens in the event of a vote to leave next week. Now, former Prime Ministers Blair and Major waded into the debate saying that one of the other likely consequences of a vote to leave could be the break-up of the UK. Now, I accept that our parties have got two very different views on that, but I’m...
Leanne Wood: I’d like to focus my contribution on the criminal justice system and the probation service in particular. It’s more than eight years ago now—back in the spring of 2008—that I produced a policy paper for Plaid Cymru, entitled ‘Making Our Communities Safer’. The purpose of that paper was to improve community safety, and it proposed the devolution of the criminal justice system so...
Leanne Wood: Diolch, Lywydd. I never met Jo Cox, but I’m sure I’m not alone in identifying with aspects about what we’ve heard about her, and with some of the politics that she represented. Rather than use my words today, I’d prefer to use hers. In her maiden speech in Westminster, Jo Cox MP said, ‘Our communities have been deeply enhanced by immigration, be it of Irish Catholics across the...
Leanne Wood: Before I start my questions today, First Minister, I’d like to place on record our congratulations to the Welsh football team and the fans who did us proud in France last night. I could go on in that vein, but I’m going to move on to my questions now. First Minister, you and I have crossed swords on many occasions about the national health service. Last night, I hosted a packed public...
Leanne Wood: Thank you for your answer, First Minister. You’ll be aware that, over many years now, Plaid Cymru has advocated incentives to attract doctors to Wales. One important factor, if we are going to attract people to come and live and work here as GPs while we train more doctors, is the state of the economy. How much more difficult do you assess it will be to attract GPs to those areas where...
Leanne Wood: I don’t disagree with you there, First Minister. We may well have disagreements on the future of the Welsh NHS and what needs to happen to safeguard it, but where we do agree is on our joint opposition to privatisation. Now, I wonder whether or not you think it’s more or less likely that the NHS will be opened up for privatisation in the event of a ‘leave’ vote. We know that...
Leanne Wood: Diolch, Lywydd. It’s with a heavy heart that I scrutinise you today, First Minister. I’ll respond in full to the EU debate later on. But, it’s important to focus on what you are responsible for now and, in particular, the delivery of public services, despite the wider political turmoil. Can I first of all say and put on record that we should all condemn the reported increase in racist...
