Mr Neil Hamilton: I acknowledge the Minister's best intentions and her openmindedness and her willingness to consider doing things that are politically difficult for her in her party and her general willingness to engage with farmers and the farming community generally on this hugely difficult issue. But, despite all that and 18 months after the launch of the refreshed eradication programme, it's clear that...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, there was nothing new in the statement today, but I still welcome the opportunity to debate this issue, because it does point out the utter absurdity of the Labour Party's position on the deal that it wants with the EU, encapsulated in one sentence of the statement, which says that they want 'A compromise which at the bare minimum needs to involve a commitment to a permanent Customs...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I couldn't find a single—[Interruption.]
Mr Neil Hamilton: The Cambridge English Dictionary says 'have a quick one' means 'to have a drink, usually an alcoholic drink, just before going somewhere'. There is no—
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, I'm sorry that I'm being silenced in this serious matter—
Mr Neil Hamilton: —which affects the freedom of speech of Members of this place—
Mr Neil Hamilton: You'll have heard the attempts of Members here to silence this speech and to interrupt it.
Mr Neil Hamilton: Hardly a day passes in this place when UKIP Members are not belittled or offended by some of the remarks that other Members of this house—[Interruption.] I believe that in a free society members of a democratic assembly should be prepared to put up with criticism and, indeed, sometimes being belittled and offended. That is part and parcel of it, and Joyce Watson—
Mr Neil Hamilton: —to listen to things that you don't want to hear.
Mr Neil Hamilton: No, I can't, Deputy Presiding Officer—
Mr Neil Hamilton: —because I've been enduring interruptions that have interrupted the flow of what I'm trying to say. I'm trying to make a serious point about the meaning of this term, 'a quick one at the local'. Mr Bain—
Mr Neil Hamilton: Mr Bain claimed that that was a sexist remark. 'Popping in for a quick one at the local' to me—
Mr Neil Hamilton: 'Popping in for a quick one' means to almost anybody, I would have thought—
Mr Neil Hamilton: —popping in for a drink.
Mr Neil Hamilton: I did a quick search on the internet—
Mr Neil Hamilton: Then—this is the important sentence— 'I'm not sure I would fancy popping in for a quick one at the local if I saw her pulling pints at the bar.' [Interruption.] I wish Members would listen. I am trying to make a—[Interruption.] I know that Members do not want to listen—
Mr Neil Hamilton: I'm not minimising it. I haven't finished my speech as yet. You can make your speech in due course. I will read from the report. Mr Gething, whose complaint was that the video was 'transparently sexist. The buxom barmaid imagery is plainly meant to belittle and offend. The reference to'— Sorry, I'm wrong. Sorry, it's the wrong paragraph. Without my glasses it's difficult for me to read. I...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, it's not so much long, but without my glasses it's difficult. Yes, in paragraph 6.1 of his report, Mr Bain says that he acknowledges that: 'the determination of complaints of this nature is a matter on which persons may legitimately reach different decisions.' He then goes on to say: 'I am, of course, aware that the Commissioner for Standards, without the benefit of all the facts now...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I realise that what I'm about to say is going to fall on deaf ears, but I will make my speech in any event. It's not related to the individual who is the subject of this report. These are general considerations about the way that the Standards of Conduct Committee is operating in order to give effect to the dignity and respect policy and the Standing Orders of this Assembly. I'm concerned...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Parliament at Westminster decided, when the referendum decision was taken, that they couldn't take that decision at Westminster, for reasons that have amply been borne out in what we've seen in the last couple of weeks, and, therefore, it was the people who would decide. And the Government said unambiguously, 'We will implement what you decide', and because they do not want to do that, and...
