Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch, Llywydd. Well, I applaud the sober and serious work that the finance Secretary is doing on the possibility of a social care levy—a subject to which we'll return in due course. I'm sure that the finance Secretary will agree with me that it's important that dog-whistle politics doesn't intrude upon these potential new taxes and that we don't create unnecessary anxiety amongst groups...
Mr Neil Hamilton: 5. Will the Leader of the House make a statement on support for victims of domestic violence in Mid and West Wales? OAQ52185
Mr Neil Hamilton: 1. Will the Commissioner provide an update on progress towards objective four of the Assembly's Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2016-21? OAQ52199
Mr Neil Hamilton: I welcome the statement, and I'm in the paradoxical position of very much being in favour of the devolution of the power to tax, but not actually very keen upon exercising it. It's a point I've made before that I'm in favour of tax competition because I think that it, in general, tends to go against increases in taxes around the United Kingdom. But I wonder whether this vacant land tax has...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I believe also that Plaid Cymru have been quite right to draw attention to the deficiencies of the leader of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom in the course of the last few days, because what's happening in Scotland is that he is playing party games with the future of the United Kingdom, and I believe that that is a fundamentally irresponsible approach. And I'm sorry to have to say this,...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I thought that the Cabinet Secretary for Finance made a powerful unionist case for this legislative consent motion. And, of course, I understand where Plaid Cymru are coming from; they don't believe in the United Kingdom, so they therefore take the maximalist view that has been expressed, and Plaid are quite right to make the points that they have made with the force and vigour that we've...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I thank the First Minister for that reply. I've seen many health service reorganisations in the course of my lifetime, and it's always a great problem bringing about change—even beneficial change. There are always going to be perceived winners and losers. The Hywel Dda university health board proposed their big NHS change, which will affect the provision of healthcare facilities throughout...
Mr Neil Hamilton: There were some damning comments in the Deloitte report about leadership in Betsi Cadwaladr, specifically: executive directors operating in silos; a lack of joint corporate ownership and accountability; the chief operational officer's portfolio was said to be too large for a single individual, managing a budget of over £800 million a year; other executive directors still establishing their...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I understand the point that the First Minister makes, and I've got a great deal of sympathy with it, but the Deloitte report notes a number of worrying, long-term systemic weaknesses, which will need to be addressed if the delivery of health services in north Wales is to be significantly improved. For example, in relation to the transformation groups that are supposed to deliver the...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. Important as are the constitutional issues raised by the leader of Plaid Cymru, they're always likely to be of less immediate concern to the average person in the street than issues such as the health service, and last week, in answer to the leader of the opposition, First Minister, you were unable to give him the assurance that Betsi Cadwaladr health board would be...
Mr Neil Hamilton: 7. Will the First Minister provide an update on the provision of healthcare in mid Wales? OAQ52186
Mr Neil Hamilton: Do I have time to give way, Llywydd? I'm happy to. I think not. I would like to have given way, but I'm afraid I can't. Suzy Davies asked me why we're having this debate again, when we've already had a general debate on the Bill. But, there is a need, I think, to continue to argue the general case for this Bill, even though there will be other opportunities in the passage of the legislation....
Mr Neil Hamilton: I misunderstood in that case, but that was what I thought was the gravamen of your remarks. Nobody's arguing that demand can't be influenced by price, and therefore the higher the tax, at certain levels, there's bound to be an impact on demand. But the key question is: who is going to be most affected by the increase in the price? Is it going to be people who are moderate drinkers or only...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. Well, it's been an interesting debate and I'm grateful to everybody who took part, especially the two Members who supported the motion—my colleague Gareth Bennett and Neil McEvoy on the other side of the Chamber. I think that Neil McEvoy did make an important point that we in this house are legislating for others, and there is a general attitude, I think, that...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Yes.
Mr Neil Hamilton: The Member is absolutely correct. That's another deficiency of the proposal. There is no direct connection between the sums of money that will be raised and what the Government can spend on trying to target help to those who really need it. Even those who have an occasional drink problem, they're not going to be affected by this very much. The hospital admissions, which always rise at the...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Thank you, Llywydd, and I beg to move the motion standing in my name on the agenda. We move from a tax to something that is akin to a tax: the Government's proposal to impose a minimum price for alcohol. Our motion makes two basic points, that a minimum price will have a disproportionate effect upon those at the lower end of the income scale—the poorest people in society—and that it won't...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, I'm sympathetic to what the Conservatives are proposing here in the first part of their motion, but I'm also sympathetic with the Government, except for the 'delete all', and we are going to support the Plaid Cymru amendments as well. I supported the devolution of tax-raising powers to Wales because I believe in tax competition between the various parts of the United Kingdom. I think...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Thirdly, I'd like to ask whether the Cabinet Secretary will consider improving public awareness of the meat that members of the public consume by improving accurate labelling of products, clearly stating country of origin, rearing conditions and, most importantly, methods of slaughter, because although we must respect different religious views on ritual slaughter, the public at large often...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Of course, the interests of producers have to be given due weight in this argument, but short of introducing an outright ban, there are things that we could do to improve the current legislative regime once we're no longer confined within the carapace of EU regulation. We could make alterations to the length of time permitted to be in transit for animals, we could make alterations to the...
