Rhys ab Owen: Our final merits point, Minister—and as I said, there was no need to respond to this point—notes that the scheme set out in the regulations will likely result in increased revenue to charging authorities for the provision of services covered by the council tax charge, and that the regulations prescribe by amendment the mechanism by which that charge can be increased at the charging...
Rhys ab Owen: 10. What discussions has the Minister had with partners to ensure that Wales does not lose out economically due to the levelling-up fund? OQ57823
Rhys ab Owen: Diolch yn fawr, Weinidog. A few weeks ago, I visited the new Spark centre in Cardiff University, and I encourage all Members to visit that new research centre. They stressed to me, prior to Brexit, the amount of funding they were receiving from the European Union. Universities Wales received almost £570 million since the turn of the century. In the context of Cardiff University, that had a...
Rhys ab Owen: And thank you very much to my friend and colleague Mike Hedges for tabling this debate. Where else in the world would we have a debate like this? Well, perhaps in Chubut state assembly. It's lovely, isn't it? It's quintessentially Welsh to have this kind of debate on the chapels of Wales. Mike Hedges and myself might be Members of different political parties, but we have a great deal in...
Rhys ab Owen: 'I want to see at least seventy-five per cent of the places of worship in Wales pulled down or used in a more effective way.'
Rhys ab Owen: Well, I agree, to some extent, with Huw T. Edwards. We need to use these buildings in a much more effective way. But I also agree with the other Huw Edwards, and what debate on chapels could we have without the BBC's Huw? He said this:
Rhys ab Owen: Places of worship have made an immeasurable contribution to Welsh life: they taught thousands of children to read and write; they fostered the strongest possible sense of community; they provided an essential platform for Welsh culture; they often campaigned for workers' rights and provided welfare services when government offered next to nothing.
Rhys ab Owen: Two years ago, the doors of all places—
Rhys ab Owen: Of course.
Rhys ab Owen: Yes, certainly, I agree, Sam, 100 per cent. Two years ago, all of the places of worship closed their doors due to COVID, and for many of them their doors never reopened. I can think of three examples in the Cynon Valley: Siloa Aberdare, the place where a fiery public meeting was held to protest against the betrayal of the blue books, the venue for the first meeting to discuss establishing Y...
Rhys ab Owen: What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the number of excess deaths at the beginning of the pandemic amongst people living with dementia?
Rhys ab Owen: I welcome the comments made by the Deputy Minister, of course—I welcome any attempt to strengthen the rights of people who live in flats that are unsafe—but I don't accept the argument, Deputy Minister, that using the LCM process is swifter than having our own Act here in Wales. We've seen over the past two years that this place can pass legislation quickly when there is a need to do so.
Rhys ab Owen: Members will have heard me several times before stressing my concerns about the way the LCM process is being used in this place.
Rhys ab Owen: This process is doing nothing to simplify our devolved settlement or our legal system, a system and settlement that even the previous Lord Chief Justice Thomas of Cwmgïedd, one of the most talented legal minds of our age, said that even he found impossible to understand, not to mention members of the public. There is a specific example here of complicating our justice system further, with...
Rhys ab Owen: Instead of using an English ombudsman scheme, we should have used the already Welsh tribunals. The Welsh residential property tribunal could easily have been renamed the Welsh housing tribunal. Instead, though, of using an existing tribunal system, we set up another ombudsman scheme, complicating an already complex tapestry. The reasons given by the Minister to ask the UK Government to be...
Rhys ab Owen: Cwnsler Cyffredinol, may I begin by congratulating you and the Welsh Government on the concessions you have achieved from the Westminster Government with regard to this Bill? It must be next to impossible to try and work with that Government—a Government that simply does not listen.
Rhys ab Owen: It's a Government that doesn't even listen to experts such as the Electoral Commission. But—and there is a 'but'—I'm very uncomfortable with the idea that we here in the Senedd are being asked to consent to such a Bill—a Bill that, through the expensive system of voter ID, will have the potential to exclude millions of the most disadvantaged people across the UK from casting their vote....
Rhys ab Owen: In recent years we've heard time and time again about Putin's interference within western democracies and western elections. Is now really the time to undermine the independent regulator of elections here in the United Kingdom? By now you've heard me on several occasions complaining not only about this Bill—.
Rhys ab Owen: If you would have listened carefully to what I said, leader of the opposition, what I said was we've heard time and time again about Putin's interference in western democracies and in western elections. Having a strong, independent regulator for elections is crucial to stop that interference. I did not compare what Putin is doing with the Conservatives, so I'll ask you to take that back, the...
Rhys ab Owen: I very much hope that we will see a Welsh elections Bill soon in the Senedd, which will show once again how Senedd Cymru, the Welsh Parliament, puts people, rights and justice at the heart of all of our actions. I remember Adam Price telling me one once that fair play and justice are part of our DNA as Welsh people. Well, there's no fair play in this Bill. Nor was there fair play in the...
