Neil McEvoy: I’d like to thank the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee and members of the committee as well for their diligence this year, but also the auditor general for shining a democratic light in some pretty dark corners. The Assembly year has ended as it began, with damning reports from the auditor general into Labour Wales. In this instance, we’re here to talk about the actions of Natural...
Neil McEvoy: This isn’t a time for politics. A man has died, and our thoughts go out to his family and the community in Splott. I do think, though, that questions must be asked as to how it came to pass and if any other buildings in Cardiff are in a dangerous state. On behalf of my group, I would just like to offer the family our condolences again and offer any support that we may able to give, and that...
Neil McEvoy: Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on waiting times for GP appointments?
Neil McEvoy: Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the creation of an international cricket team for Wales?
Neil McEvoy: Take what back?
Neil McEvoy: I’m congratulating you all on doing your bit for the housing crisis by owning extra properties.
Neil McEvoy: Okay. I think, really, this is more of a PR stunt than anything else. I’m yet to hear of a valid response to, if a house is sold and the money is put back into the system and replaces the stock, what is wrong with that? I’ve not really heard an answer to that, because, I think, across the Chamber here, nobody agrees with reducing the social housing stock in Wales. One thing we’re all...
Neil McEvoy: I think I’d like to congratulate some of the Labour AMs for doing their bit for the housing crisis, given that so many of them are landlords, and have an interest in more than one property. I find that slightly hypocritical, to be frank. [Interruption.]
Neil McEvoy: No, no. There are going to be AMs voting here—
Neil McEvoy: Some observations, really. I think there’s an issue with postal voting, especially for disabled people and elderly people whose signature doesn’t always correspond and they’ve found that their votes have been discounted in recent elections. I think if we’re all honest here, as well, then we all know that there is also an issue with postal voting and the integrity of the process. I...
Neil McEvoy: Leader of the Chamber, I’d like a Government statement on parking charges for NHS staff. I think we’re all aware of the court case last week, and nobody wants to see nurses having to shell out thousands of pounds simply for trying to park to do their job. Many of us feel that it’s not right either that a French company takes millions of pounds out of Wales just so that sick people and...
Neil McEvoy: The facts of this matter are that, just to take Lisvane, land was sold for £2 million, which weeks later was said to be worth £41 million. The issue is a stain on devolution, and I believe it’s a stain on your First Ministership. Do you support South Wales Police reopening the investigation into the Lisvane land deal?
Neil McEvoy: This is a good day for Welsh democracy. Where else in the world would a petition fly through the Petitions Committee and reach the floor of the legislature within months? People coming together and working together can bring about change. I’d like to thank Richard Vaughan for starting the petition. He was, of course, Plaid Cymru’s candidate in Grangetown in the recent council elections,...
Neil McEvoy: Leader of the chamber, this is just a quick statement on something that came up today in the Petitions Committee. A very courageous Beth Baldwin gave a really moving testimony about diabetes 1 and her family’s campaign to improve early detection through policy. Fourteen hundred children in Wales have the condition, and parents need to look out for the four Ts: thirst, tiredness, going to...
Neil McEvoy: First Minister, your party has been running the Welsh Government for 18 years, and yet there are still children going hungry—200,000 children in Wales live in poverty. Don’t you think that it’s a disgrace that a member of your own party has to stand up here and ask you about children going hungry in the Cynon valley, when you’ve had so long to do something about that? Why have you...
Neil McEvoy: Would you give way?
Neil McEvoy: I find it astonishing to sit here and listen to you discuss air pollution when your party is responsible for what will be an explosion of air pollution, due to Cardiff’s local development plan. Would you now condemn that plan and the air pollution it will bring?
Neil McEvoy: Leader of the house, following the latest £9.3 million Circuit of Wales debacle, inherited from a former Minister, I’m looking for a statement from you on the following: Kancoat, £3.4 million wasted on a company with a weak business plan; Oysterworld, £1.4 million lost; Kukd, £1 million on a company now being investigated. We had the Lisvane land deal in Cardiff North, where land was...
Neil McEvoy: First of all, unfortunately I think Mike Hedges was right, actually, about Swansea.
Neil McEvoy: As a Cardiff City Football Club fan it is. To be serious, though, I’ve had a lot of complaints from constituents that they don’t feel that we support cycling enough in Wales. Geraint Thomas has just been the first Welshman to ever wear the yellow jersey, and I would hope you would congratulate him on that formally. I would just like to know: what is your Government doing to promote...
