Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you. I'm pleased to highlight an astonishing charity bike ride, which is now drawing to its close, and to congratulate the three constituents who have been cycling tenaciously since the end of March.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Andy Fowell, Steve MacVicar and Roger Thomas got in the saddle in Istanbul on 28 March, and since then they’ve cycled an average of 65 miles a day, 5,500 miles in total, through four mountain ranges on what’s known as the iron curtain cycle trail. Now, the ride finishes in Holyhead tomorrow. I’d hoped to ride the last leg with them. Assembly business means I won’t be able...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you, Llywydd. This is one of those very important debates as we mark 20 years since the establishment of devolution. I recall making comments as a young journalist 20 years ago that one of the measures of success of devolution, and the success of the Welsh Government in due course, would be its impact on the Welsh economy. And I think, generally speaking, in looking at where Wales is in...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much for giving way. Will you agree with me that it is quite appalling that in the midst of the serious questions about the future of the Welsh economy and our need for that additional fund currently, that there has been such a delay by UK Government in pushing through with the consultation?
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you, Llywydd. I would like to make a request for a debate in Government time, as we await the statement from the First Minister on the decision on the M4 corridor around Newport. I have no doubt that strong views will be expressed during the next three quarters of an hour or a little longer that will be allocated for that statement today, and there will be strong arguments on both...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 3. Will the Minister make a statement on teaching Welsh to adults? OAQ53969
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Certainly, there are areas here that overlap with different responsibilities and different Ministers. Tourism is important to the Welsh economy but can I draw the Minister’s attention to a report by Cylch yr Iaith on the issue of tourism and the Welsh language? Certainly, there are impacts to tourism that need to be tackled, and one thing that we can do is try and move from the back foot to...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 8. Will the Minister make a statement on the north Wales speech and language therapy service? OAQ53968
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Diolch. I've been, since 2017, in touch with a constituent, a former therapist, who was among staff who decided to blow the whistle on concerns they had relating to Betsi Cadwaladr's speech and language therapy department. The concern is two fold: firstly, a clinical governance issue, with real concerns about workload pressures, negative workplace culture, dilution of services and a risk to...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I'm pleased to have an opportunity to pose a couple of questions. I think it was the correct decision not to press ahead with the black route. I'm not as convinced as the Minister is that things have moved on so much since the proposals were originally made. There have been plenty of people, including my party, who have been arguing—and the Minister sat behind you—for many years that this...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Will you take an intervention?
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I'm grateful to you for taking an intervention. I can understand why you would draw a conclusion from the results in that way. How about adding up the unequivocally pro-remain parties and saying that that is an unequivocal vote in favour of staying in the European Union?
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much. Very, very briefly: don't you think you're making a mockery of a very, very serious debate?
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you, Llywydd. I'm pleased for the opportunity to close this debate, and I'm grateful to those who have contributed to the debate, which is another opportunity for us to make an unambiguous statement about the need to seek the consent of the people of Wales for the next step of our relationship with the EU. I respect the vote that happened in June 2016 and the outcome, namely that the...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Much of that debate in 2016 focused on the bonanza on its way to the NHS, an NHS that, ironically, would most likely face being sold off if we do leave the European Union, as it turns out. But when it wasn't focusing on that, it was lauded as being a way to take back control. There can, I would argue, be no better way of taking back control than by ensuring that all the way through this...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Of course.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I'm pleased that you gave that information. I think all of us should be very concerned about the evidence, and there's plenty of it, that the Brexit debate is one of two things: either driving the growth of the far right or a symptom of it. And I've certainly seen some of the abuse that the Member for the Rhondda has taken, and it's disgraceful and I condemn it. And it would be good to hear...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: A week or so before the referendum in 2016, a group of ‘leave’ campaigners signed a letter saying not that Wales should get the same amount of money after Brexit, but that money Wales currently gets from Brussels would be maintained by the UK Government after we left the EU. I'll be kind and rather than say they were lying—though others can come to their own conclusions—I'll say they...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: The evidence now is clear. The risk is clear that Whitehall will just repeat its traditional formula of distribution of economic development funding. And look at what the figures published yesterday by the Communities in Charge organisation tell us about what that would mean. One of the campaign's organisers said it will be like handing every Londoner a cheque for over £200 and taking £700...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Llywydd, the report that I've mentioned emphasises the value of European funds to Wales, in terms of skills, infrastructure and so on. We can't accept the loss of a penny if we leave the European Union. But at the moment, there is no certainty at all of that, and that, to me, is proof of how little priority the needs of Wales are given in all of that. We have a list of requirements. We need...
