Mr Simon Thomas: When I asked for a statement on the Gambling Commission yesterday, I wasn't expecting it quite so quickly, so well done for the joint act to get you here to talk a little more about this. One of the things that's emerged from the statement from the Gambling Commission and the response that the leader of the house kindly gave to me yesterday is the fact that there is little that the Welsh...
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you very much, Dirprwy Lywydd. First of all, I’d like to thank the members of the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee and the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee for their detailed consideration of the Bill at Stage 1. I'd also like to thank everyone who has contributed to the various consultations and debates that we have had whilst drafting and...
Mr Simon Thomas: The Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee has made 19 recommendations, and I'm able to accept every one apart from one of these recommendations. I am very pleased to see that the committee has recommended that the Assembly agree to the general principles of the Bill and I very much hope that Members will support that decision this afternoon. In responding to the report, I...
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I’d like to thank the Members who’ve taken part in the discussion today. May I first of all just recognise and be clear about the contribution by the two committees, of course? I’m very pleased to welcome their responses on the general issues with regard to the powers in the Bill that’s before the Assembly today, and also the warm...
Mr Simon Thomas: Can I just say, on some of the contributions to the debate that, obviously, I warmly welcome those Members who support the Bill, and the Finance Committee will want to take on board all the comments that have been made, but I'm particularly struck, I think, by comments from people such as Mike Hedges and Janet Finch-Saunders and behind me here with Gareth Bennett—everyone who's interacted...
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you very much, Llywydd. I move amendment 9. I make no apologies for returning to an area that we discussed yesterday, but I won't rehearse everything that was raised yesterday either, but I just wanted to emphasise why we have returned to this issue. As Members will hopefully recall, although a great deal has happened since yesterday, the Bill as it currently stands doesn't include a...
Mr Simon Thomas: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. Can I start with the positive and just say that I do welcome the political statement, if I can put it that way, made by the leader of the house, around no dilution of environmental standards and—what she has just concluded in saying—to seek an early legislative opportunity—presumably after we have left the European Union, that is—to restate some of these...
Mr Simon Thomas: I'm boring you, am I? Well, I'm sorry I'm boring you. I'm sorry I'm boring you about something that you think is so important that you'll bring it forward as emergency legislation. I'm so sorry it's boring you.
Mr Simon Thomas: From Alun Davies? Certainly.
Mr Simon Thomas: From Mick Antoniw. I was just about to deal with Mick Antoniw's points, but if he wants to intervene before I deal with them.
Mr Simon Thomas: From a Member who introduced an asbestos Bill that went straight to the Supreme Court and cost £60,000 to this Assembly, that is a bit rich.
Mr Simon Thomas: That's a bit rich. It's not—
Mr Simon Thomas: Would you like to intervene again and explain? You persuaded this Assembly to support the Bill that went straight to the Supreme Court.
Mr Simon Thomas: Such an important piece of legislation that your ex-natural environment Minister just yawns and says he's tired and bored with it. [Interruption.] That's how important it is. [Interruption.] I'm starting to think that maybe the Conservatives have a point here: maybe the Government's not taking this seriously.
Mr Simon Thomas: Well, amendment 9 will not—. If it is included in the Bill, amendment 9 will not damage the Bill in the Supreme Court, because the Member who did bring forward the asbestos Bill, and was the Counsel General for a while, knows full well that the Supreme Court does not throw out whole Bills when one amendment is found, or one clause is found, to be defective. It simply adjusts the Bill. He...
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you, Llywydd. On this issue we have reached agreement, and therefore I'm pleased to see the amendment tabled by the Government. As Julie James has outlined, our main concern yesterday was to ensure that there was regular reporting back to the Assembly, but that should happen in a way that was reasonable for the Government and in a way that made sense for Assembly Members too. So, the...
Mr Simon Thomas: Plaid Cymru will be supporting the amendments in the name of Julie James. We agree that there is a gap in the legislation as it stands not to have a repeal clause if agreement is reached with the Westminster Government—that’s the main political reason that may arise, in those circumstances. We should treasure the second when David Melding spoke against a superaffirmative process. That’s...
Mr Simon Thomas: I would like to thank everyone who was involved in the drafting of this Bill. I’d like to thank the Government and Government officials for many constructive conversations. Plaid Cymru and the Government have agreed on a number of areas in this context, and it was a matter of discussing how to deal with them on the face of the Bill. There was one area where we didn’t reach agreement, and...
Mr Simon Thomas: I do note that this is a real practical threat. This is not some kind of constitutional argument as some have made out over the last couple of days. This is about people's daily lives: how you farm, how we look after the environment, how we look after our social protection, how we live together as communities is intimately connected with how we agree to live together on these islands....
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you, Llywydd. The fact that the Irish Government is willing to pay and to transport animal fodder is having an impact on the market across the British isles, and it is having an impact on the markets and putting prices up for farmers in Wales. I think that is the argument, and the thing that's become clear because of the wet spring that we've had. What happens as a result of that, of...
