David Melding: Leanne Wood.
David Melding: First Minister, the leader of RCT has said that the city deal model is now key to improving transport infrastructure and promoting economic regeneration. Will your Government, in the term ahead, be working effectively with all of the partners to ensure the city deal model is effectively implemented?
David Melding: First Minister, I hope I can extend somewhat less barbed good wishes to you and your Government. I think it’s in all our interests that this Government works as effectively as possible, and I look forward to supporting much of what you do. There will be many differences and I shall be most vigorous in pursuing those. Can I especially welcome Kirsty Williams’s appointment to the Cabinet?...
David Melding: First Minister, I know you have a very close family connection to Northern Ireland, and I wonder if, on your visits to Northern Ireland, you’ve observed the policy of the Northern Ireland Executive to consolidate as many administrative, local government and legal buildings, and public service buildings, as possible, so that they can have hubs that maintain access to the citizen. Is this...
David Melding: Can I welcome the tone of the First Minister, and also his ambition to work with the UK Government to actually now achieve a very comprehensive piece of constitutional law? Should this Bill proceed to the statute book, it will be the fourth Wales Act in 20 years, and I think I’ve said before that most people don’t change their cars as quickly as that, so to have such frequent changes in...
David Melding: First Minister, you may have seen a ‘leave’ broadcast last week that said that Britain’s EU contributions would be spent on the NHS should we leave the European Union. We’ve also been told that they’re going to be spent on guaranteeing Welsh regional aid, they also guarantee payments to farmers, and now, oh wonder, oh wonder of magic money, it’s going to preserve the amounts that...
David Melding: Deputy Presiding Officer, can I add my congratulations to your office? I’m not sure you’d want to recycle anything the last chap did, but I know you will have your own personality in the role, and I do hope you’ll soon forget the odd occasion when we clashed when I sat in that Chair, especially should I heckle rather inadvertently occasionally, having heard some of the contributions of...
David Melding: Cabinet Secretary, can I assure you you’ll get support from all sides of the Assembly in these efforts? Because what tidal energy offers us is a chance to really get there ahead of the game, lead the world eventually in harnessing this powerful source of energy, and the engineering and the skills that are needed to develop it. And, in particular, if the Swansea lagoon doesn’t go ahead, if...
David Melding: I just want to say a few words about the single market, which I believe to be a singular British achievement and something that continues to offer great opportunities to Wales, and even greater as it extends more to services, having been based initially on goods. We’ve heard a lot of talk about somehow things will almost be the same if we leave, only we’ll have much more control over...
David Melding: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Can I begin by congratulating Steffan Lewis on a most lucid speech? I think anyone that quotes Robert Peel is going to find some support from these benches. Perhaps there are Tory sympathies that lurk deep, deep within your political soul. I just offer that, by the way; I hope it doesn’t reduce the authority with which I’ve no doubt you will now speak in your...
David Melding: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Cabinet Secretary, I wish you well with your new portfolio. I look forward to shadowing you in this important area of public policy. I’m afraid I have to start on a sour note, unfortunately. I have noticed that air quality is not listed as one of your responsibilities on the official Welsh Government website—not listed specifically; you’ll argue that it’s...
David Melding: I’m sure you’re as concerned as I am, Cabinet Secretary, about the growing scientific evidence that diesel particulates pose a very significant risk to public health. We’re used to talking about the risk of passive smoking, for instance, but these particulates probably carry a graver danger to a wide range of the population. What measures are planned to improve air quality in the light...
David Melding: Cabinet Secretary, I’m glad to note that, but do you think, in a more practical sense, it’s time that in Wales, and in Britain generally, we face up to some of the practical consequences of, for instance, the school run? I think we’re of the same generation, and in my day it was only the ill or the mildly delinquent that were taken to school by private transport. This has a big effect,...
David Melding: Cabinet Secretary, the improvement and maintenance of culverts are key to effective flood defence, and if anyone in valley areas like Cynon Valley has seen how fast those water courses can move, it is truly terrifying. There’s a lot we can do in terms of maintaining culverts through the use of new technology and cameras. This is something that we must do, with great vigilance, and it does,...
David Melding: 12. What priority will the Minister place on policies to improve the outcomes for looked after children? OAQ(5)0003(CC)
David Melding: Can I commend his general statement: that our expectations for looked-after children should be similar, if not exactly the same, as for the rest of the population? I’ve been in this Assembly now a little over 17 years, and I’ve heard repeatedly Ministers say we’re on the cusp of a breakthrough for looked-after children. It’s never quite arrived. It’s all our responsibility—those...
David Melding: Will the Cabinet Secretary give way? I fear I must try to help him out as he’s made a reference to the Conservative group. I don’t speak for it; I speak only as an individual. But talking about the benefits of the European Union, the ‘leave’ side say we’ve given up essential sovereignty and it’s not worth the price, but if we’ve given up essential sovereignty, how on earth are...
David Melding: First Minister, the stark fact is the Welsh economy is the most exposed in the UK to any possible downturn in trade with the EU or a decline in inward investment seeking access to the single market, and this has to be made known to those now responsible for the Brexit negotiations.
David Melding: Well, what happened on Thursday matters. It matters bone, blood and breath, and the ramifications will extend down the generations. It matters here, it matters in Europe, and it also says an awful lot about the state of Western democracies. It also spoke of something very specific, and that was our membership of the EU, but the wider lessons, I think, are for all of us who are in this...
David Melding: I nominate Russell George.
