Adam Price: It says something about the callousness of this Conservative Government that you've already referenced this afternoon that they believe the right thing to do now is to remove the universal credit uplift when millions of families are facing devastating hardship. So long as our welfare in Wales is the responsibility of the moral vacuum that is Westminster, then families here will continue to...
Adam Price: 'The solutions to Wales's problems will never come from Westminster' is, for many us, a foundational truth of Welsh democracy. That's true of the problems that are unique to Wales, but also of the global problems to which Wales is not immune, but which we can make, possibly, our own unique contribution to solving. In that context, it's inspiring to see the momentum growing behind exciting,...
Adam Price: Diolch, Llywydd. Last week, the UK Government revealed that pollution levels from nitrogen dioxide in the new Great Western Railway's bi-mode trains were, on average, five times higher, and, at peak levels, 20 times higher than those recorded on Wales's most polluted street, Hafodyrynys Road near Crumlin—deemed so bad, it is this week being demolished. The Rail Standards and Safety Board's...
Adam Price: The Minister of State in the Welsh Office, David T.C. Davies, again last week defended the cancellation of the electrification of the south Wales main line to Swansea, by arguing that it would not have produced any benefits to passengers. Now, decarbonisation, quite apart from its positive environmental impact, would have had the pretty substantial benefit to passengers of not poisoning them....
Adam Price: Westminster's serial neglect of Wales's railway network has left Wales with the UK's oldest and worst maintained track and the slowest and dirtiest trains. The obvious answer is for us to wrest control over own infrastructure, but, while Westminster continues to resist, can we afford to stand still? The Welsh Affairs Committee has recently suggested creating a Wales rail board, comprising the...
Adam Price: First Minister, last week you wrote to Senedd party leaders sharing the latest Swansea University modelling that showed NHS pandemic pressure peaking at the beginning of November. You explained that the Labour Party's decision to cancel its Welsh conference was influenced by this modelling and the need for all of us to do whatever we can to protect the NHS in the months ahead. The clear...
Adam Price: Some practical questions, if I may, about the proposed COVID pass. Lateral flow tests, we know, are less reliable than PCR tests, and self-administered tests are currently the most unreliable of all because they can be falsified. The technology does exist to upload home lateral flow tests directly in a way that they cannot be falsified. Do you propose using that technology? Given increasing...
Adam Price: Moving to random selection.
Adam Price: SAGE has concluded that, even with careful planning, there may not be any net benefit to COVID immunity certification, and indeed a paper of one of its sub-committees has argued that a domestic certificate—which is what we're talking about, rather than a travel certificate—has the potential to cause harm. The technical advisory cell, in its summary, cites two major UK studies that...
Adam Price: As you would expect, I think you were overly generous and too fair in your assessment of the situation, as far as the attitude of the UK Government towards us, is. It's true for you, as it is for all of us, that your greatest strength is your cautious approach in trying to persuade people. But that can become a weakness when you face the UK Government, which has such an unreasonable and...
Adam Price: Will the Minister provide a timetable for the resolution of the blood-bottle shortage that is currently affecting services in GP practices across Wales?
Adam Price: Diolch, Llywydd. First Minister, members of all four of the largest NHS unions have now voted to reject your Government's pay offer of 3 per cent; the Royal College of Nursing in Wales doing so by a massive 94 per cent. Will you now agree to their request for formal pay negotiations?
Adam Price: Well, I have to say to the First Minister that I spoke to the RCN this morning, and the position that you've outlined I think does not give the real picture—as they see it, certainly—because what they've said is they wanted to talk to the Government about an across-the-board pay increase and you've refused to engage with them on that. You're not convening the pay negotiating committee of...
Adam Price: But they're not at the table because you've ruled out discussing with them an across-the-board pay increase. Now, most NHS workers—for most of them, the 3 per cent rise has already been more than cancelled by an increase in pension contributions. The new health and social care levy next year will wipe out almost half of next year's rise, and that's even before you consider the cost of...
Adam Price: There are already 1,600 vacancies in the NHS in Wales. After the year that they've had, how will a 3 per cent pay increase convince those that remain to stay when even a Labour Government imposes a below-inflation pay award on nurses? Can you really blame them when NHS staff feel let down, undervalued and ignored?
Adam Price: 2. What discussions has the Minister had with the Minister for Climate Change regarding the language impact of Welsh-language family farms being sold to companies in order to plant trees for carbon offsetting programmes? OQ56943
Adam Price: I was surprised to hear your fellow Minister saying earlier that the Government doesn't think that this is a huge problem, because I'm aware of 10 farms in the Tywi valley area alone that have been purchased by commercial operators, and we heard the Farmers' Union of Wales saying that they see reports, on a weekly basis, of this happening. So, this is the agricultural version of the wider...
Adam Price: Thank you, Llywydd. Can I at the outset on behalf of my party also send our messages of support to Andrew R.T. Davies? Many people will have taken courage and inspiration from him speaking openly about the challenges that he's facing with his own mental and emotional well-being, something, of course, that many of us will face at different times in our life. First Minister, MPs at Westminster...
Adam Price: First Minister, among the report's many findings is its conclusion that the decision by both the UK and the Welsh Government to abandon community testing against World Health Organization advice on 12 March 2020 was a fatal error that cost many lives. Notwithstanding the fact that you haven't had the opportunity to study the report, do you acknowledge that general criticism? Do you accept...
Adam Price: I, of course, understand the point about hindsight, but I suppose the crux of the matter here was that the WHO had the foresight at the time to emphasise the importance of community testing. Indeed, I remember our party criticising the Welsh Government's decision to abandon community testing at the time, on that basis, because there was advice there that actually has been borne out in terms...
