Carwyn Jones: Well, I can quote his exact words directly at him. He said, ‘Why should the Welsh Government handle the money?’ It is exactly what he said in the press conference, and he said, ‘Why shouldn’t the money come straight from Westminster, bypassing the elected legislature and Government of the people of Wales?’ He has gone on about the need for Britain, as he put it in his argument, to...
Carwyn Jones: On the first question, she knows the answer before she asked me, and that is that we don’t expect any money as a result of that pledge; it’s already unravelled. Those who professed it have said that it’s not actually what they meant. So, there we are—we’ll wait and see what they do when they get into government. But I entirely agree with what she says: our NHS would not function...
Carwyn Jones: On the first question, I wrote to the Prime Minister yesterday. I asked him to guarantee every penny that we would lose, to make sure that came to Wales. If that pledge is honoured, then we can proceed with the metro and other projects. If that promise is not honoured, then there are substantial financial gaps in many projects that would benefit the people of Wales. So, I expect that promise...
Carwyn Jones: Well, the first thing we have to project is stability in Wales and reassurance for business. I’ve asked the Secretary to draw up a number of points that we can put to business to make sure they understand that we very much see Wales as open for business. That’s hugely important. In terms of what the future holds, I welcome what the Prime Minister said in terms of Wales being involved, but...
Carwyn Jones: Well, my response—. I mean, he’s right; there we are, we saw the result. My response is the same as his party’s response in 2011 to our referendum in Wales, when that was lost by your party. But we have to accept it. There it is. We move on now with a new political landscape. I have already written to the Prime Minister. I expect to get a response. The people of Wales have voted for a...
Carwyn Jones: Well, no doubt there will be involvement, of course, with all parties as those discussions continue, but it’s a sign of the strange realignment of politics that I’m listening to the leader of UKIP being more devolutionary than the leader of the Conservatives in Wales. That is the irony of the situation. He’s absolutely right: British agriculture doesn’t exist—it won’t exist. There...
Carwyn Jones: The leader of UKIP is an optimist. He says there are advantages here: it is not immediately obvious, I have to say, what the advantages are. We are in a period of uncertainty, and uncertainty is bad. Fifty per cent of what we export from Wales goes into the European Union, and so the nature of the deal that we have with that market will be absolutely crucial to our future well-being. And...
Carwyn Jones: For example, we will continue to progress the £200 million programme business case for transforming cancer services in the south-east of Wales, we’ll develop our plans for a new treatment fund and publish an updated all-Wales cancer delivery plan.
Carwyn Jones: The Member talks of malignant melanoma, a disease that I unfortunately know well, and it took my mother’s life. It is indeed a hugely invasive cancer; if it spreads, there is no way—or, hitherto, there’s been no way—of stopping it. With the new treatments fund, as soon as a drug is approved then the money will be available to roll out that drug across the whole of Wales.
Carwyn Jones: Indeed. I mean, the public health Bill is designed to tackle the underlying causes of ill health. We know that smoking still persists as one of the major causes of death and ill health in Wales, and that’s why we want to proceed as quickly as possible with a public health Bill, and I’ll give more details about that in the legislative statement later this afternoon.
Carwyn Jones: It is true that the big change in cancer treatment over the next decade will be specific treatment for those with particular DNA. We are hugely fortunate in the sense that we have the Wales cancer genetic centre—Nobel prize-winning knowledge. I’ve certainly been there and they are developing more tests as they come along. At the moment, of course, there are particular tests that are used....
Carwyn Jones: I can say that, in the Cardiff capital region, collaboration is driving forward our priorities in transport, and that means driving forward improvements for Bridgend and Ogmore as well. I know that the Member will have a particular interest in ensuring that the three valleys that he represents are regularly connected to the rail and bus network further south.
Carwyn Jones: I heard people on the doorstep, I heard Members in this Chamber say, whenever we talked about European projects—they inevitably said, ‘It’s our money.’ People said it on the doorstep to me. It is our money. It’s the money of the people of Wales. It’s not money to be decided to be given to Wales on a whim by the Treasury, as the leader of the Welsh Conservatives has said today. He...
Carwyn Jones: Absolutely, it’s crucial. The point about the metro is that, yes, it’ll make it easier for people to travel to cities like Cardiff to work, but also easier for investment to travel up valleys, as well. One of the issues, clearly, that we sometimes face is that investors say to us, ’Well, it’s a bit far away—this community’. I don’t want that to be the case in the future;...
Carwyn Jones: GP Recruitment is a priority for us. We are talking to GP representatives across Wales and are developing new models of care that will be attractive for GPs to work in.
Carwyn Jones: Well, we have 2,887 GPs, which is 8 per cent up since 2005, and that shows that we’ve been investing in GPs. It’s not just about GPs; it’s the whole primary care workforce that’s important. Yes, we’re training GPs, but we’ll never train enough GPs purely to work in Wales; it’s been many, many, many decades since we recruited GPs entirely from within Wales. We have recruited from...
Carwyn Jones: Well, surgeons would have a very different view on that. They would say that it should be more equal. But I understand the point. It’s extremely important that we also realise that the nature of the workforce is changing. There are fewer and fewer people who want to buy into a practice. They want more freedom to move across Wales. They don’t want to commit funding into a practice. Some...
Carwyn Jones: A number. Of course, the decision has been made, and the decision has to be respected. Our priority now as a Government is to ensure the future of the people of Wales, and to ensure that that future is a bright one.
Carwyn Jones: As I said earlier, a specialist team is going to be located in the Brussels office in order to ensure that they’re able to negotiate with the European institutions, in order to ensure that the voice of Wales is listened to. We will be part of the British system, but it’s extremely important that we have our own route into the European institutions, in order to ensure that Wales doesn’t...
Carwyn Jones: Absolutely. If the money is not made up by the UK Government, then it follows logically that we won’t be able to fund many of the projects that are currently planned to be funded by European money, because we don’t have that money. So, without that money, there are many projects that, beyond the period when the UK has left the European Union, will not be able to be funded unless that...
