Adam Price: Will the Cabinet Secretary give way? He’s been very generous—
Adam Price: Yes, I’m very grateful to him. But, on the specific point raised by the leader of the Conservative group yesterday, the Welsh Government, in setting out its six key principles following the Brexit vote—not before, but following—said that freedom of movement was a key principle, a core principle. When did that change?
Adam Price: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. May I thank everyone who contributed to that most useful debate? Other than thanking you for your contributions, I have very little time to do much else. There was an element of an agreement across the parties. It was good to see Nick Ramsay supporting the need for an infrastructure commission. I agree with Jeremy Miles on the importance of the...
Adam Price: But in terms of the Cabinet Secretary, I’ve a great deal of respect for him, but I was disappointed that we didn’t get more clarity on the policy and view of Government. I do sense that he isn’t to blame for that. I do think that the policy is being made on the hoof, unfortunately. There is no accountability to the Cabinet, seemingly, to date, and certainly not to this Chamber, and...
Adam Price: I think that import substitution is probably going to become even more imperative, economically, to us as a result possibly of the clumsy and confusing approach to single market access that we’re currently seeing from this Government, but can the First Minister tell us if the kind of advice and direction given to local authorities currently by the Welsh Government includes positive support...
Adam Price: As Plaid Cymru’s been calling for a development bank since the 1970s, we’re very grateful to see that it’s finally happening. But the question to the Cabinet Secretary is this, really: from the Government statement, the annual lending that’s aimed at eventually is around £80 million. That’s less than a fifth of the £500 million funding gap that the Government’s own feasibility...
Adam Price: Last week, Cabinet Secretary, you announced that the business rate relief scheme currently in place in Wales will now be extended for 2017-18. Perhaps in an attempt to conceal rowing back from one of your top manifesto pledges in the recent election, this was presented as a tax cut for small businesses in Wales. Now, surely continuing with the current rate relief, whether it’s making it...
Adam Price: I’m not sure whether this is Orwellian or Kafkaesque, but it doesn’t make any sense to me. You’re paying exactly the same taxes; it’s only a tax cut in Wales apparently now. There are other things that you as Cabinet Secretary could have done to support businesses in terms of rates. You could have indexed the business rate multiplier to the consumer prices index rather than the retail...
Adam Price: I’ll try my best with this one then: following the revaluation of business rates by the Valuation Office Agency, which comes into effect on 1 April next year, current predictions by the retail sector and other businesses are showing that the projected rate poundage for Wales could jump by a staggering 10 per cent, making Wales the highest taxed and least attractive place to do business in...
Adam Price: I warmly welcome the statement itself and the constitutional innovation that it represents, which also reflects the development of this institution as a parliament and takes us to the core of the statement: the need to review and amend the process of agreeing the budget, which, in comparison with many other Parliaments in the world, gives far too much power to the Executive and too little to...
Adam Price: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. This one-line motion has a very simple goal: it’s to bring some clarity to the current position in terms of the Government’s policy on Brexit. We’ve seen a policy that is confused, chaotic and completely lacking in any credibility. That obviously has incredibly detrimental consequences for the interests of the people of Wales as we face probably one of the...
Adam Price: [Inaudible.]—agree with you now, David. So, you know, celebrate a victory; they actually agree with UKIP policy.
Adam Price: Will you give way?
Adam Price: He’s just telling us that membership of the single market doesn’t actually exist outside the EU. So, why was the former shadow Secretary of State for Wales, Owen Smith, saying that that is his policy? Was he making it up as well?
Adam Price: Well, I think that what we’ve just heard from the Minister must fill us all with a sense of despair. Because I realise there are different positions in this Chamber in terms of the best Brexit for Wales, and they’re held for legitimate and sincere reasons, but I think that most of us would agree that we need clarity and leadership from the Government that we’re currently lacking. Now...
Adam Price: Thank you, madam Deputy Presiding Officer. I agree with the leader of the Conservatives: this is a very flimsy programme, given that all the power and ability of the civil service is behind the Government. We have produced our own ideas in the programme for opposition and there is reference to that in our amendment. There are more ideas contained there than in the Welsh Government’s...
Adam Price: I hope the Member will understand why—. I don’t want to do that, because, of course, we support our own programme for opposition. But I’m happy to confirm that we will support the Conservative motion, because we do have to hold this Government to account for a poor programme for government—a programme that is vacuous when Wales deserves better. To put it in very simple terms, there...
Adam Price: Leave us alone.
Adam Price: Will the First Minister commission independent research on the economic impact of the various post-Brexit models on the Welsh economy?
Adam Price: The programme for government has a commitment to develop a new not-for-profit rail franchise for Wales. I’m not only the one, I think, that’s tried and failed so far to understand what this actually means. The policy director of Arriva Wales, speaking to the Welsh Affairs Select Committee recently, said, ‘I do not feel I have ever seen an explanation of what this concept was’. There...
