Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch yn fawr iawn, Lywydd. Well, I do regret the way in which Rhun ap Iorwerth introduced this debate, referring to uncertainly for existing NHS staff and their family as a result of Brexit, because we all know that the Government has given a commitment that anybody who is here lawfully will be allowed to remain. That is the position under the Government’s treaty obligation....
Mr Neil Hamilton: In a 30-minute debate, where I’ve only got a couple of minutes to speak, I don’t think I can give way, I’m sorry. But I’m quite happy to see the Member outside afterwards.
Mr Neil Hamilton: I also very much regret the reference to increasing enmity towards immigrants. Apart from a very small minority of reprehensible individual, there is no enmity towards immigrants amongst the British people at all, particularly towards those who work in the NHS. About 5 per cent of the staff of the NHS throughout the UK are from overseas and are EU citizens. They do play an extremely...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I commend Plaid Cymru for bringing this motion before the Assembly today and for the way in which Steffan Lewis introduced the debate. I have to declare an interest, because my mother is a pensioner under the sister scheme, the British Coal staff superannuation scheme, and I’m well familiar with the arrangements of the mineworkers’ pension scheme itself. I believe that there are...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Can I commend the First Minister on his response to the first question today, whilst agreeing with the leader of Plaid Cymru’s strictures upon the activities of the Saudi Government in Yemen? Nevertheless, it is vitally important to Wales that we improve our trade links with Saudi Arabia. It’s a small amount of trade—£240 million in exports last year—but, nevertheless, that’s very...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch, Lywydd. In his evidence to the Assembly’s Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister last week, the First Minister asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer to do something about energy prices in the autumn statement in order to help the steel industry in Wales, something which I wholly support him in. He pointed out that energy prices in Britain are 46 per cent higher than in...
Mr Neil Hamilton: But Germany has been opening new coal-fired power stations; in fact, 11 GW of capacity in the last five years, which is equivalent to 15 per cent of the entire electricity output of Germany. Sigmar Gabriel, who is the Vice-chancellor of Germany and is the chairman of the German social democratic party, and is their energy Minister, has said that Germany will not be phasing out brown...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Oh, here we go again.
Mr Neil Hamilton: We are proposing to close down existing coal-fired capacity in Britain, which is the cheapest form of power generation. That doesn’t seem to me to be an economically sensible or commercially sensible thing to do. We have another climate change conference in Marrakech coming up—[Interruption.]—well, it was last week—where a lot of hot air was expended. Developing countries like India...
Mr Neil Hamilton: They’re building one a week.
Mr Neil Hamilton: The Cabinet Secretary will recognise that there is universal concern across the party divide in this Assembly over this regrettable situation. And this arises because it coincides with the retirement of a Pembrokeshire paediatric consultant and the maternity leave of another. The retirement of one paediatric consultant surely is reasonably foreseeable, and there should have been some...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I thank Simon Thomas for acting as the warm-up act to the series of questions I’m about to put on related topics. The Cabinet Secretary will be aware that the Welsh Government has required Powys County Council to increase its generating targets for electricity from renewables—from wind power, in fact—from 50 MW, to 600 MW. That could see another 200 to 300 windmills desecrating the...
Mr Neil Hamilton: This is a democratic forum, isn’t it? What are we here for?
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, the Cabinet Secretary clearly doesn’t understand that part of the problem with reliance on renewables is that the lights may well not come on when you press the switch. At the moment, the National Grid is generating 3.33 per cent of power from renewables, compared with 17.32 per cent from coal and 49.68 per cent by combined-cycle gas turbines. Combined-cycle gas turbine generation has...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, under the Paris agreements, of course, India is going to treble its carbon dioxide emissions in the next 15 years and China is going to double them whilst we are making the sacrifices, which have been the subject of my questions this afternoon. But the Cabinet Secretary has responsibility also for rural affairs and the countryside, and tourism is vitally important in mid Wales....
Mr Neil Hamilton: Thank you, acting Presiding Officer. What an interesting debate this has been, and I’d like to congratulate Lee Waters on adding this intellectual veneer to our proceedings. It shows what a credit he is to our old school, and I’m sure Adam Price will agree on this what a great contribution it is making to the proceedings. Of course, my own contributions tend to cater for the rougher end...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch, Lywydd. The Government will be represented at the Supreme Court hearing next week on the case involving article 50, and it’s perfectly reasonable that the Welsh Government’s views should be presented to the court. But what instructions will be given to counsel for the Welsh Government? Will he, or she, be supporting the Government of the United Kingdom, or will he or she be...
Mr Neil Hamilton: There is an argument, of course, as to what the constitutional law requires in this particular incident. So, what I’m trying to elicit from the First Minister is on whose side he is going to be—on the view that is held by the United Kingdom Government or the view held by counsel for Mrs Miller, who is the applicant in this case. There are sound legal arguments for saying that an explicit...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Indeed. So, what I’m trying to elicit from the First Minister, and which he still has not given an answer to, is: what will the counsel for the Welsh Government actually be saying in the course of these proceedings? Because the counsel for the Government said nothing in the High Court at all. Is it intended that counsel for the Welsh Government will say something in the Supreme Court...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Isn't it about time the remoaners stopped trying to frustrate the freely expressed wishes of the British people in June? The question was plain and simple: do we want to remain in the EU or leave the EU? There was no if or but. There was no qualification or condition. There was nothing about whether it should be a soft Brexit or a hard Brexit. The decision taken by the British people under...
