Nick Ramsay: I’d like to thank the Cabinet Secretary for his statement this afternoon. I think we are all agreed that the economic realities that we find ourselves in mean that we do need to look at more innovative ways to fund public investment in Wales, and particularly the capital spending that the Cabinet Secretary has spoken of extensively in his statement today. Can I particularly welcome the...
Nick Ramsay: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. In the last 10 years, skin cancer diagnosis rates in Wales have risen by 63 per cent, with 140 people dying every year from the disease. In the same time, melanoma incidence rates in Wales have risen by 86 per cent for men and by almost half for women. These rates are unacceptably high for a cancer that can be protected against with one simple change:...
Nick Ramsay: First Minister, you mentioned fast fibre in your answer to Jeremy Miles’s initial question about broadband services, and I’ll start with some good news that the village of Tintern on the River Wye in my constituency has been very luckily recently connected to a superfast broadband box, which is pleasing the village no end. On the flip side, in the rural hinterland of Trelleck Grange, a...
Nick Ramsay: Can I welcome today’s debate on the supplementary budget? It’s probably not the budget that is getting the most press coverage in the world—at least in the UK—this week. Welsh Conservatives recognise that this budget does contain an in-year management process aimed at aligning resources with priorities—that rather difficult process, as the Cabinet Secretary referred to it in his...
Nick Ramsay: Thanks for giving way. I think the key word you used there, Jenny, was ‘hoping’, and yes, ultimately we would hope that a lot of traffic would be taken from the centre, but my point is: until there are plans to build that second part of the eastern bay link, the first part of the eastern bay link is threatening to make things far worse for Rover Way.
Nick Ramsay: Cabinet Secretary, there are clearly many unanswered questions surrounding the hugely complicated process that is Brexit. In answer I think to a question from Neil Hamilton earlier, you said that Wales is way ahead of other nations at this point—I presume by that, you mean within the UK—in terms of looking at how we’re going to develop the systems after Brexit. Can you update us—? Can...
Nick Ramsay: 1. Will the First Minister provide an update on support available to businesses affected by the business rate revaluation? OAQ(5)497(FM)
Nick Ramsay: Thank you for that answer, leader of the house. Businesses in my constituency continue to be deeply concerned by the business rate revaluation. Whilst any additional support is welcome—I hear about the relief that your Government has announced—the additional discount is a drop in the ocean for those businesses facing the biggest hikes. What assessment has been made of the number of...
Nick Ramsay: Will the Cabinet Secretary update us on any inter-governmental discussions on the roll-out of tax devolution in the wake of the agreement on the fiscal framework?
Nick Ramsay: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. As you know, there was cross-party support for the fiscal framework and we welcome its implementation. This morning, in Finance Committee, we took evidence from the Office for Budget Responsibility on the next big challenge—accurate forecasts of Welsh tax is no easy task. I’m sure you agree accuracy is vital, because the forecasts will be used to make future...
Nick Ramsay: Thank you. The OBR—and others, indeed—have identified that, in recent years, growth in income receipts has been significantly lower in Wales than across the UK, due in part to issues like the raising of the personal allowance threshold and the shifting of the burden higher up the income scale, with lower incomes forming a greater proportion of the Welsh tax base. It’s vital that...
Nick Ramsay: You’ve inspired me with that bit of old English there, Dai, or whatever it was.
Nick Ramsay: Norse. I will be supporting your Bill at this stage and the general principles, but I have to say I do have some sympathy for the Cabinet Secretary, because law does have to be very clear. In my constituency, the village of Trellech has 13 different local variants in pronunciations and spellings, which causes massive confusion on road signs, as you can imagine. So, you have to be very careful...
Nick Ramsay: Leader of the house, I am currently being inundated by complaints about the problem of littering on trunk roads and the verges of trunk roads and lay-bys in my constituency. I know that other Assembly Members are experiencing similar complaints. I know that, often, the responsibility for maintaining the cleanliness of trunk roads is delegated to, in my area, the South East Wales Transport...
Nick Ramsay: Can I also thank the Cabinet Secretary for bringing forward this debate today? I also want to thank my friend and colleague here, Dafydd Elis-Thomas, for telling me all about King Henry VIII rules, which I didn’t know much about until before this debate. I probably know marginally more about that now than I do about landfill. But it’s good to take part in this debate today, and I’m...
Nick Ramsay: 1. Will the First Minister make a statement on public transport provision in south-east Wales? OAQ(5)0529(FM)
Nick Ramsay: Thank you, First Minister. The decision on the awarding of the new Wales and borders franchise is particularly important for public transport in south-east Wales and, indeed, for the south Wales metro—an issue I’ve raised in this Chamber with you a number of times. You mentioned at the end of your answer the importance of integration. Will you update us on the process of awarding the...
Nick Ramsay: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Do you wish me to move my amendment?
Nick Ramsay: Yes? [Interruption. ] Okay, I’ll speak to it in the group. Sorry. It’s been a while—it’s been a while since I did Stage 3, Presiding Officer.
Nick Ramsay: I’m just blinded by Mark Reckless’s explanation there for moving his amendments—happy to support that. Okay, I wish to move my amendment 32, which is pursuant to Mark Reckless’s amendments 35 and 37. As Mark Reckless explained, we believe that this amendment—his amendment—will simplify cross-border land transactions. For those of you who didn’t sit on the Finance Committee...
