Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch, Llywydd. I don’t want to be left out of the crowd of the Cabinet Secretary’s fans, welcoming her back to the Chamber, and I’d like to say how glad I am to see her looking so hale and hearty. I’d like to return to the question of the Labour Party manifesto, to follow up on the point that Simon Thomas made right at the start of proceedings today. As far as I can see in this...
Mr Neil Hamilton: And the other question that arises is the freedom that we will have to consider the regulatory regime applying to rural industries in general. Whilst I accept the points that were made by Huw Irranca-Davies in his question earlier on about maintaining essential regulations, it can’t be said that the existing corpus of regulation imposed upon us by the EU is perfect in every particular, and...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I know from having spoken to many farming organisations and individual farmers that they do appreciate the Cabinet Secretary’s open-minded approach and, indeed, her general approachability and willingness to discuss these issues in the round. There’s one particular case that I would like to raise with her now where she would be able to do something. She will be aware that the regime...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Of course, I’m old enough to remember the days before the bridge, when we drove across in a coracle, as it seems to me in retrospect now, and I well remember—[Interruption.] I well remember the official opening ceremony of the bridge itself. I can welcome this conversion of my Conservative friends on this issue. It’s only a matter of months since, of course, they were raising all sorts...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, I have the Record in my hand, and the general rule is that—
Mr Neil Hamilton: [Continues.]—your vote should follow your voice. And, in that debate, I think there was a certain amount of variation between the two. It may well be that the Conservative group has been infected by a defection in recent weeks. If so, that’s only to be welcomed, because there may be other changes to come in due course, no doubt. But it is of vital importance to the economy of the whole of...
Mr Neil Hamilton: So, I warmly support this motion by the Welsh Conservatives this afternoon. I suppose that’s a reciprocation for their support for the UKIP motion in these terms that Russell George referred to a moment ago, which we had in a debate in this Chamber only a few months ago.
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, I’m delighted to take part in this debate and I’ve read with interest the paper that has been produced by Simon Thomas, but I have some difficulty in understanding how such a company could, in practice, make any material difference to the provision of power in Wales if it doesn’t have access to capital from private markets. I assume that we’re not thinking of setting up a...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the data released by the TB dashboard?
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch, Llywydd. I’m sure I’ll carry the First Minister with me in saying that the last 10 minutes have proved, if nothing else, that the time for sterile political point-scoring is long past in this general election campaign to have any positive effect either way, and therefore we should concentrate more on building a successful economic future for Wales collectively, supporting other...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I thank the First Minister for that reply. I see also on the BBC website today that the Government has been in talks with a view to getting the golf Open championship to come to Wales, and the Tour de France as well, and also there’s a possibility, if the Brussels stadium is not ready in time, that Euro 2020 could be held in Wales, and I would support the Government’s interest in that....
Mr Neil Hamilton: And it’s also important to note that there is no request for any public money to be invested in this project upfront, and that all that is being sought is a guarantee, which is a commercial guarantee that the Government would pay to finance, which will be called only as and when all the construction on the site is completed, so there will be physical assets against which the loan can be...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Like everybody else who’s spoken in this debate this afternoon, I strongly support the Sandford principles, although I do take the point that the Cabinet Secretary made in her speech that these beautiful parts of our countryside must be thriving and living places, and inevitably there are going to be conflicts of policies and conflicts of interest, which have to be reconciled somehow. I do...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch, Llywydd. I wonder if the Cabinet Secretary will agree with me that Theresa May has performed a minor miracle in this election campaign by making Jeremy Corbyn look half electable. If he does pull it off tomorrow and Labour is elected on their platform of increasing corporation tax from its current 19 per cent to 26 per cent, that’s bound to have an adverse economic impact in Wales....
Mr Neil Hamilton: I can’t believe that the finance Secretary seriously believes that such a staggering increase in corporation tax would have no effect on business confidence, business investment and, indeed, the capacity of companies to pay wages, and therefore the implication is bound to be that the true cost of such increases in business taxes are ultimately felt by ordinary people, both in forms of...
Mr Neil Hamilton: There is massive empirical evidence that proves the opposite of what the finance Secretary is asserting. It’s not my study that I referred to a moment ago; that’s an academic study performed by the wholly independent Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation. It must be obvious that if you put up taxes, therefore that has some economic impact, whether through reductions or increases....
Mr Neil Hamilton: Would the leader of the house agree with me that we should exercise the greatest caution before getting involved in any war of words in relation to internecine disputes in the middle east? Of course, we would deprecate in the strongest possible terms any country financing terrorist groups like al-Qaeda. It’s important to note that Qatar denies any such involvement. But the importance of...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Listening to Plaid Cymru, you’d think that by staying in the EU the future would be absolutely assured forever and a day, but we know that beyond the current multi-annual framework there is no guarantee of agricultural funding for Wales in the European budget. I remember, when we first joined what was then the European Economic Community 40-odd years ago, agriculture accounted for 65, 70...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Yes.
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, clearly, that’s a preposterous proposition, as the Prime Minister has already said that the current funding arrangements will be preserved up to the end of 2022, and no Government can bind its successors, and, as there must be a general election by 2022, any promise given now would be worthless, and therefore not worth making. But it’s all our money anyway, the money that the EU...
