Adam Price: I will be very brief, Llywydd. We will also be abstaining because that is in accordance with what we did on the budget that this supplementary budget changes, of course. I know that I do have some previous with supplementary budgets, but I thought I should tell the Cabinet Secretary that we are going to allow this supplementary budget to go through. I think I’ve upset him once today...
Adam Price: Yes, of course.
Adam Price: Well, I am absolutely delighted. ‘Hallelujah’, is what I would say, of course. We all look forward to that and it’s a pity that we have to wait until after the summer recess to undertake that scrutiny, but certainly I look forward to seeing the outcomes of the other negotiations that are ongoing between the Finance Committee and the Cabinet Secretary in terms of restructuring the whole...
Adam Price: Diolch, Llywydd. Cabinet Secretary, in November last year, you told the Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee that the First Minister had said that he expects the economic strategy to be with him by the spring of 2017. Earlier this year, you said in Plenary that you had to wait until the UK’s industrial strategy had been published in January. On 8 February, a Government amendment to...
Adam Price: For the record, Members are asking which autumn of which year we’re talking about. So, maybe the Cabinet Secretary might want to put that on the record. Now, maybe one of the reasons for it being delayed was because you had to rewrite it following the fall-out of your decision over the Circuit of Wales. Now, on 27 June, Cabinet Secretary, you told the Assembly that you could not have a...
Adam Price: Well, Cabinet Secretary, your Government did ask for a provisional ruling from ONS when you made a decision in principle on your own Government’s mutual investment model in October 2016. Furthermore, isn’t it true, Cabinet Secretary, that ONS has also got provision for policy proposals that are not at a near final stage? Their classification guidelines, which you yourself referenced in...
Adam Price: You didn’t answer the question.
Adam Price: As a Member of this National Assembly, and being frequently on the receiving end of Government strategy documents—and they do come thick and fast—you’re often oscillating between a state of confusion and a state of despair. I have to say, having speed-read this document this afternoon, I feel a mixture of both. Confusion because I think I was under the misapprehension that this was...
Adam Price: 2. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the proposals from Natural Resources Wales to introduce new controls on fishing for salmon and sea trout? (OAQ51045)
Adam Price: I understand why the Cabinet Secretary doesn’t want to set out clearly her views at this point in time. But I think it’s important to note that a number of fishing clubs—in my constituency, and across Wales—have expressed concerns about these proposals, particularly the proposal to have a complete ban on bait fishing, and the 100 per cent catch-and-return policy, and the impact that...
Adam Price: Of course, the Cabinet Secretary will share our opposition to the concept that the Government in London, as their Secretary of State has said already, are going to take all of the powers for agricultural payments. But would the Cabinet Secretary, in order to ensure that we do have the widest support possible in Wales to protect devolution in terms of powers, over agricultural payments, make a...
Adam Price: I apologise.
Adam Price: 9. What assessment has the Cabinet Secretary made of local support services available to unaccompanied refugee children? (OAQ51046)
Adam Price: I’m grateful for the Cabinet Secretary’s response. I have passed him the details of Adam Bakhtiari, who is 17 years old, originally from Iran, living in my constituency, and is facing a very difficult situation if he were to be forced to move back to Iran for reasons that we don’t have time to go into here. But, in his case, he wasn’t given the support that one might’ve expected...
Adam Price: In light of events in Catalonia, what discussions has the First Minister had with the UK Government as part of the UK-EU Brexit negotiations regarding the rights of sub-state governments to act autonomously without being restricted by the state government? (TAQ0042)
Adam Price: At the heart of this question, of course, is the fundamental right of nations to self-determination, which is indeed enshrined in the UN charter, and as the tectonic plates are shifting around us in these islands, in the European mainland, and across the world, it is increasingly under threat from a sort of irredentist power grab from the central state, as they themselves feel their supremacy...
Adam Price: Would you allow an intervention?
Adam Price: We’ve all seen the economic and social pain that Port Talbot has suffered of late. I have to say that turning Wales’s industrial heartland into an industrial-sized penal colony is not the solution to years of neglect that that community has suffered. I want to concentrate in my remarks on the economic dimension, but I would say to the Conservative Member: look, it’s not humane to...
Adam Price: I’ll tell you this: what the real motivating factor is—. I’ll send you the—[Interruption.] I’ll send you the evidence. The real motivating factor is this: it’s austerity meeting inhumanity. The Government’s own forecasts have shown that HMP Berwyn is going to be the cheapest prison to run in England and Wales. That’s effectively what it is. It’s a big box, but for people....
Adam Price: As you’ve specifically referred to it, have you entered into the option agreement with the MOJ that you just referred to?
