Mr Neil Hamilton: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'm very glad that we're having this debate today, and I'm afraid I don't share the constitutional objections that David Melding voiced earlier on. I think that this Assembly is entitled to express a view upon the competence of United Kingdom Ministers where their responsibilities touch directly upon Wales and the interests of its people. That seems to me...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Yes, sure.
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, I have great respect for minority opinion, because I'm in a very small minority myself in this house, but I think those who hold that opinion will be in an even smaller minority than the one in which I normally find myself. But whilst I support the office of Secretary of State for Wales, I don't think I can support the current occupant of it. Of course we must continue to have a...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. This is an important topic and I'm grateful to the Cabinet Secretary for detained here this afternoon on a nice, sunny day. She and I have many political disagreements, but no-one can deny the spirit and commitment that she brings to her office as Cabinet Secretary for Education, and I certainly pay tribute to all that she has achieved in the years that...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Now, there is one item in this course called 'ethnocentrism': 'Ethnocentrism is where a person sees a grouping which they identify with to be superior to other groupings.' It goes on to say that this is because they judge another culture solely by the values and standards of their own culture. Of course, seeing other cultures as different doesn't necessarily mean that we see them as...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Yes. Normal people, real people. Let's say ‘real people’ then. [Interruption.] Well, I don't recognise many faces around here of people who've followed, in their own private lives, a hair-shirt austerity programme. We all enjoy very comfortable—[Interruption.] Well, we all enjoy extremely comfortable lives, earning very large sums of money compared with the average and I think it is...
Mr Neil Hamilton: So, I believe what we should be doing in schools is teaching children that there are different views on things, even highly controversial topics where people sometimes see them in terms of black and white, encouraging argument, encouraging disputation, but at the end of the day teaching them to be critical. That's the most important thing that we can do, I think, in school: teaching children...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I welcome the statement. It's perfectly reasonable, I think, that the Counsel General seeks to intervene in this case brought by the Lord Advocate of Scotland. Devolution is an evolving process and there are inevitably going to be uncertainties and ambiguities that are created by the legislation that is the means of bringing it about. We moved from a conferred-powers basis to a...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch, Llywydd. Well, I'm very pleased that the Government has brought forward this debate today, and I find it difficult to disagree with many of the things that the Cabinet Secretary has said. I was particularly pleased to hear her say, in the course of her speech, that she will concentrate on getting a fairer deal for small-scale fishers and a fairer deal for Wales. That's what we all...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Yes, certainly.
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, Pembrokeshire lobster is extremely palatable, I can tell you. But, yes, I realise that the industry is very dependent upon exports, but there's a massive opportunity for us here, because we have a massive imbalance in our trade in foodstuffs with the EU and if tariffs are idiotically imposed by the EU—not because the British Government won't be interested in doing so—then, we have...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I'm sure the Cabinet Secretary will agree with me that no sensible person wants to see tariffs on imports and exports of cars between Britain and the EU. In the unhappy event that the European Commission continues to block proposals for a free trade deal, it would be the EU that would come off worst because they export £3.9 billion-worth of cars to us; we export only £1.3 billion to them,...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I commend Lee Waters for bringing this motion before the Assembly this afternoon and for the succinctness and accuracy of his speech and its diagnosis. I agreed with everything that he said. This is a grotesque case. Carillion, which is what I want to concentrate on in particular, is a company that on its collapse has left £7 billion in liabilities, £2 billion of that to suppliers and...
Mr Neil Hamilton: It is also a failure of Government. The Government has something called the Crown Commercial Service, which is part of the Cabinet Office, which is charged specifically with looking at major suppliers to Government like Carillion where a collapse might pose a systemic risk. It's not clear why nothing was done by that organisation in this particular instance to try to stave off the possibility...
Mr Neil Hamilton: 3. Will the First Minister make a statement on how the Welsh Government facilitates outdoor leisure activities in Wales? OAQ52509
Mr Neil Hamilton: I thank the First Minister for that response. A constituent who is a keen off-road cyclist has written to me from Kidwelly to complain that a large area of land near Merthyr Tydfil that is owned by Natural Resources Wales has been leased to a private company and trades under the name of BikePark Wales, as a result of which there's been a restriction on public access to that land. And I...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. I've had a great deal of contact recently with animal welfare campaigners who are concerned about pre-stunning of animals and ritual slaughter, in particular. And they've pointed out to me that non-stun slaughter has now been banned in Denmark, Iceland, Sweden and New Zealand, that the British Veterinary Association have said that pre-stunning is superior from a...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Good. Well, I'm grateful for that reply, which I regard as very positive. In the event that the Cabinet Secretary decides not to change the law in this respect, will she consider an alternative proposition, which also comes from the BVA? They say that they recognise that, whilst pre-stunning is superior from a welfare point of view, should non-stun slaughter continue to be permitted,...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Making policy on the hoof would not be appropriate, even for an agriculture spokesman, I'm sure. As the Cabinet Secretary will know, there has been a huge increase in the growth of the halal meat market in particular. Much of this food is not being consumed by Muslims, and it's gone into mainstream takeaways and fast food outlets as well. A lot of people have objections for whatever reason on...
Mr Neil Hamilton: 2. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on support provided by local authorities to homeless people in Mid and West Wales? OAQ52495
