Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch, Llywydd. All Members will have been horrified by the recent nerve agent attack in Salisbury. The general consensus of opinion appears to be that the exchange in the House of Commons yesterday by Jeremy Corbyn and the Prime Minister fell well below the level of events. Chris Leslie, a former Labour shadow Chancellor, said it wasn't appropriate to make party political points when 'our...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I noticed that the First Minister sidestepped the question. But Nicola Sturgeon has said 'Cool heads certainly required but also a firm response. Russia simply cannot be allowed to launch attacks on our streets with impunity.' Does the First Minister agree with that?
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, I thank the First Minister for that very reasonable reply. One thing that I did agree with Jeremy Corbyn on as a result of yesterday's exchange was this: he said there must be 'a robust dialogue with Russia on all the issues—both domestic and international—currently dividing our countries, rather than simply cutting off contact'. If that is true of Russia, it is perhaps even more...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I can give a broad welcome to this statement. There is very little in it with which anybody could disagree. I'm certainly very pleased that the Minister has confirmed that the Sandford principle will be at the heart of Government policy in relation to national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty. After all, what's the point of designating areas as being of outstanding natural...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I listened in some perplexity to the speech that David Melding gave. He seemed to be speaking in a kind of vacuum, as though the reason why we're here today has nothing to do with the United Kingdom Government. This is not a bogus Bill, and if there is a constitutional crisis looming, it comes about because something that was entirely predictable has happened because of the neglect of the...
Mr Neil Hamilton: UKIP will be opposing this resolution today. I'm sorry to see that none of the other parties in the Assembly will do so as well. In his introduction, the Cabinet Secretary said that this is a targeted measure. It is in one sense because it targets the many without actually benefiting the few who drink irresponsibly. Whereas most people like a drink and they drink responsibly, there is a...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Yes, sure.
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, that's not the question. The question is amongst those who are really addicted: addicts. We don't know, of course, what the minimum price is going to be. Of course, if you increase the minimum price of alcohol by £5 rather than 50p, it would have a dramatic effect, but until we know what the minimum unit price is going to be, we can only talk in general terms. But what we can say, I...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Will the First Minister make a statement on traffic congestion in Mid and West Wales?
Mr Neil Hamilton: I've raised related questions on previous occasions with the previous Counsel General about the impact of the Vienna convention, I think, of 1969 on vested treaty rights. But would the Counsel General agree with me that one of the problems, which the EU has at the moment, which is causing electorates all over the continent to become more and more restive is the indiscriminate granting of EU...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. As I was on my way to Cardiff yesterday, I was listening to the car radio, and the World at One was on, and, with some incredulity, I heard that the Welsh Government was consulting schoolchildren between the ages of seven and 11 for their views on Brexit—perhaps it shows the level of maturity of the Welsh Government on this issue—and was going to take their...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, actually, that particular reference—[Interruption.] Sorry, Llywydd. Actually, that particular reference referred to an 11-year-old's comment, also broadcast yesterday, where she said that, if we were to leave, a lot of people who have friends in Europe might not be able to get in. 'I'm aware that people can come into the country who may not always do good things, and they can do bad...
Mr Neil Hamilton: It's not to belittle the views of children at all, but the level of maturity that is displayed in those comments of course reflects their age. Perhaps even the First Minister at that age was similarly immature; I don't know. But children of seven to 11, of course, are not yet mature, and their opinions reflect that. And even though we all mature and then our opinions are worthy of being...
Mr Neil Hamilton: 7. Will the First Minister make a statement on upgrades to the road networks in Mid and West Wales? OAQ51958
Mr Neil Hamilton: I thank the First Minister for that reply. I'm sure he'd agree with me that upgrades are very welcome, but that they can sometimes cause disruption and economic costs, and it's important, therefore, that they should be completed as quickly as possible. At the moment, there's a resignalling project on the A477 to Pembroke Dock at its junction with the A4139. This is designated as a major...
Mr Neil Hamilton: It's easy to see these regulations—wrongly—as part of a policy on culture; it's actually a health measure that we're talking about today, and we will be supporting the regulations on the basis that half a loaf is better than no bread. I heard the eloquent plea by Siân Gwenllian today to go further, and I very much sympathise with it. It won't please them to know it, but Cymdeithas yr...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I regret having to perhaps pour cold water upon the enthusiasm of my neighbour here for moving Welsh law in the direction of—
Mr Neil Hamilton: —European jurisprudence, but I'm sure that the Counsel General will agree, because it's mentioned in the statement itself that codification can also occur, of course, in common law jurisdictions, such as the United States and Canada, and merely making sense of the disorganised, uncontrolled development of a series of different statutes or Orders and consolidating them into one single unit...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. Supermarkets are now gearing up for their annual promotion of lamb at Easter time, and it's a great opportunity, obviously, for lamb producers in Wales. I was disturbed to read, in the online version of Farmers Weekly this morning, that some retailers are claiming that British lamb is out of season at Easter. This has been, of course, hotly denied by the National...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Another interesting fact that I've picked up is that a YouGov poll commissioned by the National Farmers Union has found that only 18 per cent of the people of Wales had Welsh turkey on Christmas Day, and that only 29 per cent of people had Welsh potatoes. Obviously, there are great opportunities to take advantage of what we might call gaps in the market that have existed hitherto, and leaving...
