Adam Price: 4. What efforts is the Welsh Government making to ensure young people in rural areas are not priced out of their local housing markets? OQ55877
Adam Price: First of all, I'd like to thank the elections planning group for its work. My party was pleased to participate in that work. Despite some of the headlines around this group, it's important to bear in mind that the work of the group, and many of the recommendations in the report that's already been published focus mainly on the arrangements that should be put in place in order to ensure that...
Adam Price: I haven't had time to read the document in full, but can the Deputy Minister give us an update in terms of the Government's intentions in terms of reopening the rail line between Carmarthen and Aberystwyth, and then extending along west Wales to Caernarfon and Bangor? Can you also give us some idea as to your vision on villages? Alun Davies mentioned towns, but I'm particularly thinking of...
Adam Price: Do you agree, First Minister, that the only secure and sustainable future for Port Talbot and the other Welsh plants in the long run is to return the ownership of the Welsh steel industry to Welsh hands—to nationalise as a first step, and then to recapitalise with the kind of green bond advocated recently by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in their report to you,...
Adam Price: History has taught us as well, hasn't it, First Minister, that we cannot rely on Westminster to solve Wales's economic problems. Indeed, to reverse the Prime Minister's logic, it is because Westminster has proven so disastrous to Wales that this Senedd exists. So, now is the time to show the difference that having our own Government can make, by bringing forward a counter proposal to protect...
Adam Price: Diolch, Llywydd. First Minister, according to media reports, Tata Steel UK is currently seeking £500 million of funding from the UK Government as part of the Project Birch initiative in order to sustain its future. Accepting this support, it's said, will require Tata to close both its two blast furnaces at Port Talbot and replace them with electric arc furnaces that will produce steel from...
Adam Price: This week, I'd like to highlight the particular success of Coleg Elidyr, located in Rhandirmwyn near Llandovery. This year, Coleg Elidyr has won the Tes award as the specialist provider of the year for their particular work in supporting individuals with complex learning needs. Originally, the college was established as the Camphill community on the basis of the Karl König and Rudolf Steiner...
Adam Price: While we await the roll-out of an effective vaccine, other methods of avoiding an over-reliance on lockdowns as a primary policy tool are important, of course, which is why the mass-testing programme being piloted in Liverpool and the example that we had in Slovakia are important. The latest available data shows the weekly rate of COVID in Liverpool is 300 per 100,000 population. The...
Adam Price: Diolch. The Scottish Government has said that it's agreed for its vaccine quota, if you like, to be determined on a population-share basis because there's minimal difference between that and calculating on something more like a needs-based formula. You've said in the past, First Minister, that in the context of COVID Wales has a greater vulnerability because it's older, sicker and poorer...
Adam Price: Diolch, Llywydd. First Minister, we will all, of course, naturally, have been encouraged by the glimmer of hope we saw yesterday, but, as you say yourself, a vaccine should not be regarded as a silver bullet, certainly at this stage in the pandemic. But nevertheless, the news was, I think, potentially a silver lining of what's been a dark and difficult year so far. Could you say a little bit...
Adam Price: Diolch, Llywydd. Thank you, First Minister, for the statement and for the announcement yesterday, which I know would have been welcomed by so many people across Wales, not least my own mother and father, who are looking forward to being reconnected with their grandchild. I'm sure that's felt in many, many families across Wales. Your own economy and transport Minister has said that the current...
Adam Price: First Minister, you say that being part of the UK means that Wales has the advantage of participating in a large-scale insurance policy, but haven't the past few weeks just demonstrated that it's a policy that doesn't pay out when we in Wales need it the most? The Tories have claimed that we've had £4 billion from Westminster during the pandemic, but that's just our Barnett share of the...
Adam Price: Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Latvia, Estonia, Ireland and even Luxembourg, with a population the same size as Cardiff, are all funding wage subsidy schemes equivalent to the furlough as small, independent countries, so why would an independent Wales be any different? Indeed, as an independent country we could even decide to go further than that, and introduce a universal basic income so that...
Adam Price: First Minister, you said yesterday that, if we were not part of the UK, we wouldn't be having a discussion about furlough because, you implied, we couldn't afford it. Why is that?
Adam Price: If it is true, as you said earlier in response to Rhun ap Iorwerth, that the funding that is already there in terms of the hardship fund is sufficient for the rest of the year, why has Caerphilly council said today that there is 'considerable uncertainty in respect of additional funding' during the remainder of this current financial year, and do Ceredigion say that it isn't entirely clear...
Adam Price: 3. To what extent will the Minister ensure that the Welsh Government's budget can be adapted over the coming months to support county councils in Wales? OQ55761
Adam Price: Diolch, Llywydd. We are clearly of the view that, given the grave seriousness of the situation that now we face, the Government has no option but to introduce the measures that were announced yesterday. Time is a luxury that we don't have, quite frankly, because the report by the technical advisory cell is about as unequivocal as it's—. Well, I've yet ever—. The leader of the...
Adam Price: Whether it's COVID or Brexit, being wedded to Westminster is having disastrous consequences for Wales. The health Secretary in England is overseeing a calamitous lighthouse lab system hampering the Welsh COVID response, while the Chancellor turns a blind eye to the struggle of Welsh businesses, workers and the self-employed. Compare our situation with that of New Zealand. I'm sure, First...
Adam Price: First Minister, another defining issue where the people of Wales are at the mercy of Westminster is planning for the end of the Brexit transition period and the proposed UK internal market. I agree with the Counsel General when he said that a UK Government seeking the power to spend in devolved areas and to control that spending is one which seeks to neuter and negate the devolution...
Adam Price: Diolch, Llywydd. No responsible Government or opposition, First Minister, could fail to support radical action in response to the national emergency that we're currently facing. Of course it's important that the mistakes by both Governments that have led us to this point are acknowledged so that we can learn the lessons to prevent successive waves of infection. But as the technical advisory...
