Adam Price: May I start by correcting one thing that was suggested yesterday, First Minister, which is that there is any anti-English motivation in raising this issue? I can say that with some assurance, because I am the son of an Englishwoman. It's not only insulting to me, to my family and my party to suggest that there are anti-English attitudes involved here, but it also hides the real reason for...
Adam Price: Is the Minister aware that certain aspects of this policy have caused some ill feeling in rural areas, and would she be willing to consider calls from a council such as Carmarthenshire County Council to review the policy? Specifically, does the Minister believe that it's fair that applicants for rural enterprise dwellings have to prove validity that the developments are sustainable on the...
Adam Price: The South Wales Trunk Road Agent and Natural Resources Wales have been in correspondence with Llanegwad community council, but the problem is that there is a difference of opinion between them on the best way forward. Specifically, SWTRA has recommended a system to gather debris further up the river and NRW opposes that. So, the question that the Llanegwad council and I are asking, quite...
Adam Price: 1. Will the Minister make a statement on the recent flooding in the Pontargothi area? OQ55692
Adam Price: 4. What assessment has the Minister made of the impact of the One Planet development policy? OQ55693
Adam Price: 1. Will the First Minister make a statement following the latest news that the UK Prime Minister has rejected a further request made by the Welsh Government on 13 October relating to travel restrictions? TQ494
Adam Price: One area where we do need quick and decisive action is in relation to travel from areas of high infection that you've already referred to. This is the fourth week running that I've highlighted the absurdity of people in areas of high COVID rates in England being allowed to travel into parts of Wales. Yesterday, the health Minister, for the first time, confirmed that there had been importation...
Adam Price: Let's look at the evidence from the technical advisory cell that you referred to, First Minister. On 18 September, it said: 'A package of non-pharmaceutical interventions...on local and national scale may be needed to bring R back below 1…an earlier and more comprehensive response is likely to reduce the length of time for which they are required.' It repeated that in its next report on 25...
Adam Price: Diolch, Llywydd. Three weeks ago, the Strategic Advisory Group for Emergencies, SAGE, advised that a combination of interventions would likely be necessary to bring R for coronavirus below 1. Among the measures that it said should be considered for immediate introduction were a circuit-breaker, a short period of lockdown, to return incidence to low levels; the closure of all bars,...
Adam Price: I agree with the First Minister that a short-term set of policies is no substitute, really, for a long-term strategy. But the technical advisory cell's report, which has just been published, actually, within the hour, is very sobering reading. The R rate that it quotes now for Wales is between 1.3 and 1.6, and that contrasts with early September when it was said to be between 0.5 and 1. It...
Adam Price: The Scottish Government, First Minister, has confirmed that it will be imposing far tighter restrictions in the coming days. You yourself have received advice from the technical advisory cell saying that the earlier additional measures are introduced, the more effective they will be. The kind of additional measures that we could be talking about in our context could be, for example, closing...
Adam Price: Diolch, Llywydd. On Monday, First Minister, it was reported that there were 596 new positive COVID cases identified in Wales following a lab test—the highest figure, I believe, since the pandemic began and SAGE has said that cases overall in Wales are likely to be increasing on a daily basis by between 1 per cent and 5 per cent a day. Over the past fortnight, I've raised with you the...
Adam Price: Clearly, as we've heard in the debate, the driving force for the discussion around universal basic income is the massive wave of technological change that is unfolding in front of our very eyes. There is an economic debate as to the extent to which automation, AI and related technologies are going to create mass technological unemployment permanently. There are serious economists that believe...
Adam Price: On 4 September, First Minister, SAGE warned that there was a significant risk that higher education could amplify local and national transmission of COVID-19. The risk, they said, required national oversight, and once again, they identified testing as critically important. On 15 July, you said, 'Today we can carry out 15,000 tests a day.' On Sunday, you said, '15,000 is not a sustainable...
Adam Price: First Minister, the summer has been an extremely anxious time for young people, as you know. As a consequence of the A-level debacle, many were left not knowing if they were going to university at all, let alone which one. Having arrived on campus last week, the worry now will be whether they will be allowed to return home for Christmas. Students like Meg, a first-year law student from...
Adam Price: Diolch, Llywydd. Many of us will have been surprised and somewhat alarmed at the scenes from the top of Snowdon over the weekend, with long queues of people attempting to reach the summit with complete disregard, it would appear, for social distancing guidelines, but it raises a wider issue of course. Many of these will have been visitors and there's nothing set out in the guidelines at the...
Adam Price: I welcome this opportunity to discuss the Wales-wide measures announced yesterday by the First Minister. However, I also want to place on record how unacceptable it is that we weren't afforded this opportunity yesterday. The Senedd has been sidelined time and time again in favour of government by press briefing. It wasn't the case, as you were told, Llywydd, that we couldn't debate this...
Adam Price: Thank you, Llywydd. During proceedings today, a number of Members from opposition parties as well as Members from the Government side had asked for a statement from the First Minister to be made in the Senedd if there is any intention to introduce any policy changes on coronavirus and restrictions today. We're given to understand that there is to be an announcement made. Have you received any...
Adam Price: Yes, and that will be the subject of a full statement later this afternoon, First Minister—
Adam Price: Just very briefly on resilience and testing—I know we've talked about this before—in terms of the lighthouse labs, obviously building up our own capacity is absolutely critical. There's an interesting experiment in the north-east of England, where they've taken a lighthouse lab effectively into public ownership, I suppose you might call it, and also they're targeting it at local...
