Mark Reckless: Will the First Minister make a statement on whether Welsh Government policy on the M4 relief road has changed since he took office?
Mark Reckless: The Welsh Government launched its Brexit website for business in September 2018, and you said in your statement yesterday you hoped to have a further portal up and running within a few days. The Irish Government launched its prepareforbrexit.com website in June 2016, within a week of the referendum, and has been offering grants of up to €5,000 to help SMEs prepare for Brexit since the first...
Mark Reckless: Will the Member give way? Will the Member give way? He says 'whatever the outcome' of this. The outcome was that Wales voted to leave the European Union. The problem is that people such as himself do not want to implement that result and are doing everything possible to frustrate it. By saying, 'We have to leave whatever; we won't accept "no deal"', you have to accept whatever they give you....
Mark Reckless: 4. Will the First Minister make a statement on how the Welsh Government plans to relieve traffic congestion around Newport? OAQ53269
Mark Reckless: The First Minister didn't mention one major commitment from the Labour manifesto, and I quote: 'We will deliver a relief road for the M4'. When I asked the First Minister last week to make a statement on whether Welsh Government policy on the M4 relief road has changed since he took office, he made no mention of the relief road in his response, instead just saying, 'No change has taken...
Mark Reckless: May I ask the organiser for two statements? The first is in respect of the possibly tragic news regarding the 28-year-old Argentine striker, Emiliano Sala, who was in Wales on Saturday to announce his record signing for Cardiff City. After returning to Nantes, where he was previously playing, it has been confirmed that he was on a plane travelling from Nantes to Cardiff yesterday evening,...
Mark Reckless: 2. Will the Minister make a statement on what progress Hybu Cig Cymru have made in developing markets for Welsh red meat beyond the EU? OAQ53244
Mark Reckless: I'm pleased to report in that context that, last week, I wrote to the Minister following a meeting I had with an Omani businessman, who is interested in importing Welsh beef and lamb to Oman. As we're looking to diversify our exporting markets, does the Minister welcome this, and will she arrange for whoever is appropriate to meet with them, to facilitate this mutually beneficial trade?
Mark Reckless: 1. Will the Minister make a statement on the Self-Build Wales programme? OAQ53243
Mark Reckless: I welcome the Minister to her post. I'm pleased to be able to start by congratulating Welsh Government on what strikes me as a really positive and on the face of it quite generous terms to this initiative. I just wonder, the press release said that loans would be 'repayment free' until the new home was complete and mortgaged, it then says: 'approved applicants can reserve a plot by providing...
Mark Reckless: Will the Member give way?
Mark Reckless: He says it's piecemeal and gives one example, but I think another example was inferred just now in that insurance companies—our older people will just rely on competition. You can't have an insurance company discriminate on the basis of gender. Why should they be able to do it on the basis of age?
Mark Reckless: I'm grateful to the Member for giving way—I hunch my shoulders, but thank you. I wonder, might it be that we're saying to them that by having lower rates and perhaps encouraging more people to come and live and pay tax in Wales that there might be more revenue to support their services?
Mark Reckless: Could I firstly apologise to colleagues for arriving late to the debate, and particularly to my colleague, Nick Ramsay, whose introductions are often as rousing as his perorations? So, I'm sorry to have missed that. I did hear Neil Hamilton's speech just now. I'd previously been aware that he was a lawyer, but I hadn't realised that he was a tax avoidance specialist until he revealed that...
Mark Reckless: Well, we don't have the numbers from the tax authorities yet—at least not reliable ones—because the transactions can come in later. So, we have a survey on a consistent basis, and I think that gives useful information. In the previous quarter, in the last quarter before this happened, I think we had about £390 million of transactions, as people rushed to get their transactions through...
Mark Reckless: Mandy Jones rightly observes that the Welsh capital has a very good record in attracting major events, particularly in the sporting field. One of the items of perhaps what may be described as constructive feedback that we sometimes get from organising bodies and visitors, though, is it would be better if people coming in by road weren't held up in jams, often for hours, through the Brynglas...
Mark Reckless: I thank Rhun ap Iorwerth for his speech. He says that, last night, he was able to agree a form of words for the motion with Welsh Government. I just wonder when Welsh Government were cosying up to Plaid Cymru, who want to break up our United Kingdom, whether they thought of an alternative approach that they might take, one of supporting the UK Government in its negotiating position and going...
Mark Reckless: I will.
Mark Reckless: The Member is right that the House of Commons has said that, but it said it by 318 votes to 310, and it chose only to say that and express an opinion, and when given the opportunity two or three times to do something about it, voted by a majority twice as large not to and to support the UK Government in its negotiating position to put pressure on the European Union to make alternative...
Mark Reckless: I had thought that, in the third part of this motion, actually, the Welsh Government was not willing to call for a second referendum—was using weaselly words that work should begin immediately on preparing for a public vote, whatever that may be; perhaps it was a general election, perhaps they couldn't agree. Perhaps, like the people in the House of Commons, who didn't even dare put an...
