Adam Price: Could I ask the Minister just to confirm that the police forces in Wales are going to be put on standby in the event of a 'no deal' Brexit, as has been reported, for example, in England and in Scotland? In February of last year, we received confirmation that the Government was considering the concept of free zones, or free ports, if we were to leave the European Union. Can the Minister...
Adam Price: Well, this report by the committee and, indeed, the subsequent Grant Thornton report and the previous reports by the Wales Audit Office certainly have laid bare a—how can we say—systemic collapse, really, of ordinary rules of governance and audit, and leadership, I think, more generally, and there are issues of capacity as well, as Llyr Gruffydd has said. But I think they've also pointed...
Adam Price: I disagree. In any instance, non-executives also, to be able to perform their function of critical challenge, need to be able to ask good questions, and they can only do that from a basis of knowledge, and that's been lacking in this case. It's an important sector economically. It's actually bigger in terms of value added than agriculture and, indeed, in terms of the rural economy, its...
Adam Price: Thank you, Llywydd. May I also extend my sympathies to the family and friends of Paul Flynn and say this: I had the pleasure of serving alongside him in that other Parliament in Westminster for some years, and he was always very willing to provide advice and support, even though we came from different parties. He occasionally would pull me up when he thought I could perform better. He was one...
Adam Price: Is the First Minister able to share with us the Welsh Government's assessment of the potential impact in terms of jobs on supplier firms in Wales of Honda's announcement today? Can he confirm that that may affect up to a dozen major suppliers, such as G-Tekt in Tredegar and Mitsui in my own constituency, as well as many more second tier and third tier suppliers? The Welsh automotive sector is...
Adam Price: First Minister, on 22 January, you told this Chamber, 'the debate in Parliament over the next week is the last opportunity to rally around that form of Brexit...based around continued participation in the single market and a customs union...if that cannot be done,...the only option that...remains is a...public vote to break the deadlock.' Now, that was widely interpreted as you saying that...
Adam Price: First Minister, I accept what you say about the going round in circles that we're seeing in Westminster, but the deadline that I asked you about was the one that you set for yourself, in terms of deciding when we need to move on and unequivocally say that the only way forward is a people's vote. And one of the criticisms I've heard you make of Theresa May's Government is that they're...
Adam Price: I'm grateful to the First Minister for seeing his statement in advance. You state in the statement that the proposals set out in 'Securing Wales' Future' were reflected in Jeremy Corbyn's letter to Theresa May last week. But that isn't exactly the case, is it? I quote 'Securing Wales' Future': 'The EU Customs Union delivers benefits for Welsh business.... We believe at this stage that...
Adam Price: Diolch, Llywydd. Your Government's targets for people waiting more than 12 hours for treatment in accident and emergency is zero. In Scotland, they have the same target and have managed to come within touching point of it. With a larger population, they achieved a figure of fewer than 200 with unacceptably long waits in the latest figures. But, in Wales, that same statistic has to be counted...
Adam Price: I know the First Minister has said he doesn't look forward to First Minister's questions, and he once reportedly stood up the Prime Minister to attend a party, but do you think it's in order for him to prioritise a reception in Buckingham Palace over answering questions here in the Senedd? What I would have asked him, and now we'll ask you instead, is if you are running out of excuses for the...
Adam Price: I have to say to the Minister—maybe we have different values, but I think that the priority for the First Minister is to be here to answer questions from the elected representatives of Wales. Surely, that's the purpose of having this Parliament in the first case. Now, across the UK, the monthly target for people waiting more than four hours for treatment in A&E is 5 per cent. Again, the...
Adam Price: In Scotland last December, just 10 per cent had to wait more than four hours. In England, it was significantly worse, with 24 per cent waiting more than four hours, but in Wales it was worse still. Our figure was 28 per cent. It is significant that colleagues of yours—Labour MPs at Westminster—consider the waiting times statistics for England in A&E so bad they have called for an...
Adam Price: The supplementary budget is a relatively technical issue, so I won’t speak for long, but it’s worth noting that this will be the final supplementary budget, I think, as part of the two-year compact that my party had agreed with the Labour Government, and we have delivered a lot, of course, as part of that agreement and we celebrate that, particularly during this recent period. I’d like...
Adam Price: Thank you, Llywydd, and I do move the amendment in the name of my fellow Member Rhun ap Iorwerth. We, of course, are co-submitters of the motion tabled by the Government, and we welcome the opportunity to work with our Celtic cousins in Scotland. It is an innovative approach that we should also, perhaps, adopt in future in other contexts. We, of course, agree entirely with what the motion has...
Adam Price: And I think that it is incumbent—. We are in dangerous times in all kinds of senses: 24 days out from what I think most of us would accept is a disaster—a disaster for our economy, but also a disaster for our politics and our political institutions. Trust is at an all-time low. Neil Hamilton is right in this regard, at least—not words I would say very often. But it is a result, of...
Adam Price: Will the First Minister give way? Did the leader of the Scottish Labour Party also not say that his preference is for a revised deal? And is that the position of the Welsh Labour Party?
Adam Price: Will the First Minister give way?
Adam Price: The question that was put to the leader of the Labour Party was: what is his preference—for a people's vote or for a revised deal? He said a revised deal. We're clear that our preference is for a people's vote. What's your position?
Adam Price: It's called democracy—[Inaudible.]
Adam Price: Diolch, Llywydd. First Minister, last week, in your speech to the Scottish Labour Party conference, you stated that social class, rather than geographical accident at birth, is the single most powerful factor in shaping peoples's lives. But, surely, seen through the prism of Welsh experience, poverty and place are hardly unconnected. Poverty is indeed the single most important determinant of...
