Leanne Wood: This sounds to me very much like a reverse gear, First Minister. Your original business case included the Ebbw Vale line. It said, and I quote: 'the case for electrification of the Valley Lines rail network is, first and foremost, on the basis that all lines are included from Ebbw Vale to Maesteg and with the Vale of Glamorgan line also included.' Now, the documents published by Transport for...
Leanne Wood: Electrified?
Leanne Wood: I'm again encouraged to speak this week on the general principles of the continuity Bill following its introduction last week. Plaid Cymru will of course be voting for the general principles of this Bill, and we've been consistent in calling for this Bill. We've been calling for this Bill since at least last summer in anticipation of a Westminster power grab. In terms of content, the...
Leanne Wood: Yes.
Leanne Wood: Absolutely correct. The frameworks designed in this way could cover areas of critical importance, of course, to the Welsh economy. The UK Government's analysis of EU law also suggests that frameworks would be required in a host of areas related to food, farming and the environment. They could also include state aid, public procurement and geographical indicators. These are the real...
Leanne Wood: Counsel General, the draft agreement proposes a common regulatory area on Ireland, and it rightly proposes the need to sustain the Good Friday agreement, the all-Ireland economy and the north-south co-operation. Because the UK wants to leave the single market and the customs union, that means that a hard border would have to be created in the Irish sea and at Welsh ports. My...
Leanne Wood: I welcome Plaid Cymru's debate on young people and communities in Wales, and, in particular, I welcome the emphasis on tackling the outward migration of young people from our communities to other parts of Wales, or to the UK, or to the rest of the world. Immigration is one factor affecting the demographics of our society, but emigration is where a devolved Government can make more of a...
Leanne Wood: What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the success of its efforts to recruit more doctors to Wales?
Leanne Wood: Diolch, Llywydd. First Minister, your Government has still not increased training places for doctors, and when my Plaid Cymru colleagues have asked about this previously, your health Secretary said he would announce doctor training places separately to those of nurses, midwives and other health professionals. Can you tell us when we can expect this long-overdue announcement?
Leanne Wood: First Minister, we need that announcement sooner rather than later. Our academic institutions and health boards need assurances that you haven't forgotten about doctors. Today, we've seen plans to unveil five new medical schools in England at Sunderland, Lancashire, Lincoln, Canterbury and Chelmsford over the next three years—five new medical schools. It's relevant for Wales that these...
Leanne Wood: First Minister, doctor training rates are lower in Wales than in England or in Scotland. All of the organisations—the British Medical Association, the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal College of Physicians—have all been supporting calls for an expansion of doctor numbers in Wales. Now, we can't rely on other countries to train our doctors. We lose enough talent as it...
Leanne Wood: What plans does the Welsh Government have to increase levels of cycling in the Rhondda?
Leanne Wood: 8. How is the Welsh Government responding to the spike in cases of Alabama rot disease? OAQ51937
Leanne Wood: One of the recent cases of Alabama rot, a fatal disease found in dogs, was reported at a veterinary practice in my constituency after walking in a woods near to my home town of Penygraig. A dog was taken to Tonypandy practice of Treforest Veterinary Clinic with the ulcers that are associated with Alabama rot, and the dog, like so many that get this disease, died. Given that scientists don't...
Leanne Wood: 1. How is the Welsh Government helping veterans return to civilian life? OAQ51936
Leanne Wood: You'll be aware that some armed forces personnel struggle with adjusting to life outside the forces and some particularly struggle because of the traumatic events that they have witnessed. This might explain why a 2014 survey by the British Legion found that working-age veterans are twice as likely to be unemployed as their equivalents in the UK general population. More recent studies on the...
Leanne Wood: I'm outraged by those figures that were relayed earlier on, and many of those contributory factors are outwith your control. But the school uniform grant is something that is within your control. Now, while the Assembly was in recess, and at the same time as your flagship anti-poverty programme, the Communities First programme was wound up, we heard that you intend to cut the school uniform...
Leanne Wood: The problem is that sounds like a threat, First Minister, and the questions of openness and transparency are not going to go away. They cut to the very heart of democracy, and if there are so many problems with the Wales Act why have they only now been identified? These matters, we'll be coming back to them, but I want to ask you about the question of Syria. Does the First Minister support...
Leanne Wood: My party is committed to opposing these tokenistic, American-led air strikes, and I'd like to remind the First Minister that the road to peace is rarely paved with the weapons of war. Now, the effectiveness in terms of stopping Syrian suffering is far from clear. The Prime Minister herself has said that these strikes were not intended to change the course of the war in Syria and end the...
Leanne Wood: But that risk is there now, isn't it? 'So for me it’s not a question of bombing in Iraq and then bombing in Syria—I don’t see much of a difference.' Those were the complacent words of the First Minister when the prospect of British bombs being dropped on Syria first arose back in 2015. He supported bombing campaigns in Syria then, and he supports them now. Yesterday, the First...
