David Rowlands: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for your statement on the commission. I don’t think it’ll come as any surprise to you that those of us who are outside your cosy friendship with Plaid Cymru might be a little worried about who will actually constitute this committee. Is it going to be a number of apparatchiks from both parties or, indeed, are you actually going to look outside party...
David Rowlands: I thank the Cabinet Secretary for his statement—as usual, succinct and enlightening—but does he not agree with me that the critical element in the operation and effectiveness of bus services is, of course, connectivity with the rail infrastructure? So, can the Cabinet Secretary tell me what efforts are being made to synchronise bus and rail timetables? The question was prompted when one...
David Rowlands: No.
David Rowlands: Yet again, I have to, Cabinet Secretary, express my surprise that this Government and many of those in this Chamber are supporting a south-east-England-centric project that has no real identified benefits for the Welsh economy. Indeed, I would paraphrase the old holiday adage: what happens in the south-east stays in the south-east. Would it not have been better to have promoted the potential...
David Rowlands: Cabinet Secretary, I don’t know whether it’s your birthday today but you’ve certainly had a great deal of praise, both in the last debate and in this one. I am unashamedly—[Interruption.] I am unashamedly going to carry on in the same vein. I thank the Cabinet Secretary for his statement on the long-awaited construction of the SCCC at Llanfrechfa, and I’m sure that the news will be...
David Rowlands: I will make one comment: we received this statement just 10 minutes before Plenary. It’s hardly a basis for good scrutiny and to make comments on this statement, but using a little bit of crystal ball gazing and some historical evidence, I would like to say, as a constituent of the Valleys, it saddens me that, yet again, we have to embrace a new ‘Valleys’ strategy. I put the word...
David Rowlands: ‘The Arctic ocean is warming up, icebergs are growing scarcer and in some places the seals are finding the water too hot, according to a report to the Commerce Department yesterday from Consulafft, at Bergen, Norway. ‘Reports from fishermen, seal hunters and explorers all point to a radical change in climate conditions and hitherto unheard-of temperatures in the Arctic zone. Exploration...
David Rowlands: Will the First Minister agree with me that there are many hardworking families in Torfaen who would be delighted with a take-home pay of £400, which may well be the reason why 21 per cent of the unemployed in Torfaen have declared they do not want a job?
David Rowlands: No-one listening to him this evening could deny the Cabinet Secretary’s desire and passion to get these institutions to work to the best of their ability. But I have to echo some of the concerns voiced by Suzy Davies and Dai Lloyd this evening. Whilst UKIP is in broad agreement that we utilise all possibilities with regard to generating income from these unique national assets, it is...
David Rowlands: Diolch, Lywydd. I’m going to bring matters back now to the regional level that we talked about a little earlier on. I believe the Cabinet Secretary is aware of a group called MAGOR—Magor Action Group on Rail—which is campaigning for a station in Magor in Gwent. They have been engaged in this project for a number of years and have been successful in obtaining funding from several...
David Rowlands: Thank you for that answer, Cabinet Secretary. If you’re still thinking of funding, can I be as impertinent as to ask if he may consider totally funding the GRIP 3 application, which is probably in the region of £160,000? I raise this possibility, Cabinet Secretary, because it can be noted that this station has actually been indicated on the South Wales East metro plan several times, and it...
David Rowlands: Thank you for that answer, Cabinet Secretary, but I would have liked to have been able to take back a little bit more of a positive message to these people. Are you in any way able to give me some sort of indication as to the possibility of this happening, or not?
David Rowlands: I thank the Cabinet Secretary for his statement. First, can I congratulate the Cabinet Secretary on the very successful Year of Adventure? I would add that following his own personal involvement with Bear Grylls and Richard Parks, we are all grateful that he chose not to pursue a career in that direction. The excellent promotion of such iconic attractions as ZipWorld in Bethesda and the...
David Rowlands: I thank the Cabinet Secretary for his statement that contained many encouraging comments with regard to his visit to Japan. However, turning to exports in general, would the Cabinet Secretary confirm to Members that Wales’s exports to the EU have been in sharp decline over the last decade, falling, as my colleague pointed out earlier, from 60 per cent to less than 40 per cent during that...
David Rowlands: I also want to concentrate on the high-street businesses. It is an incontrovertible fact that there is a dramatic decline in high-street shopping across the whole of Wales. This, of course, is a problem shared throughout the rest of the UK, but it seems Wales has been hit harder than many other parts of the country. We have to ask the question: can this decline be halted, or at least...
David Rowlands: Yes, of course.
David Rowlands: Yes, thank you, Dawn. I fully appreciate that, but we are talking about people who are casual shoppers most of the time, and they would not be wanting to get one of these monthly tickets. The increases in Newport beggars belief, given that the town has lost out to Cwmbran town centre, which has offered free parking for many years, and resulting in Newport, as Asghar has already pointed out,...
David Rowlands: Diolch, Lywydd. First Minister, given that a large proportion of all Irish exports, both to the UK—
David Rowlands: [Continues.]—and to the EU pass along the M4 motorway.
David Rowlands: I’m sorry. Well, I just missed two of the words or something out of it. If I have, I apologise to the First Minister—
