David Melding: Then, the link between FEs and employers, again, was made by several Members. David Rowlands, I thought very fair mindedly, started with a tribute to the Welsh Government's vocational programmes, as he put it, and commended what he thought was a lot of activity that had been positive. He did then kind of lapse into his previous speech in the debate that we held earlier, and there were lots of...
David Melding: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I think we've had a very interesting debate, and I thank all Members who have made a contribution. Mohammad Asghar started in very robust form and framed this debate, I think, very positively. We need to reach our full potential as a people and as an economy, and I think we all agree with that. A skilled workforce is at the heart of a resilient economy;...
David Melding: I thank David Rees, the Chair of the committee for the way he—well, he always conducts the committee in exemplary fashion. This was a very important inquiry, and I'm happy to support the motion and the report today. I think David has covered the main points that struck us, but let me amplify them. I don't think they're reduced in any way by repeating. The salary threshold at £30,000 was...
David Melding: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, for calling me in this most important debate. Can I just start by paying tribute to Lynne Neagle, who is an outstanding voice and leader in this field, both as Chair of the committee, and in general in our debates here, and has done so much to hold the Government to account, to commend the Government when it's doing well, but also to remind it when there's...
David Melding: No, sorry.
David Melding: Can I add my voice to that of Hefin? I think we've all had casework as well as observing really poor practice. I commend Living Streets Cymru, which commissioned a research survey of over 1,000 people—so that's a lot of people in Wales—and that found that 83 per cent of respondents favoured banning pavement parking. Now, I know, in practice, that would create some problems, particularly...
David Melding: Will you take an intervention?
David Melding: On this point that the UK state and the UK Government will take the role to enforce certain legal changes, of course, that replicates exactly the situation at the moment—that the EU has the right to direct our law in certain respects and we do accept that that's part of the constitutional arrangement.
David Melding: Would you give way?
David Melding: I'm grateful to the First Minister emeritus. We're in a common law system. It was in the 1690s that parliamentary sovereignty was first expressed by the courts, and the reason it can't be encoded is Parliament itself is the extreme and ultimate expression of the law. That's the system we have, unless we move to a different system.
David Melding: There are lots of things that I would have much preferred in Mrs May's approach. Everybody knows in this Chamber how pro-Europe I am, and I am very discomforted. I think the long-term constitutional challenges we face to keep the union together are much tougher than they would have been had we remained in the union, and, having been a former deputy director of the Welsh Centre for...
David Melding: I will give him full and considered advice on that part when I've read it and I will write to him. Now, that's the sort of answer that I used to get from him very frequently, so I hope he will be satisfied. [Laughter.] The First Minister then went on, as something of an afterthought, in my view, to the constitutional grounds, some of which do require a response—it's not an unreasonable...
David Melding: Thank you, Presiding Officer. We heard the First Minister graciously concede that Brexit is going to happen, and this at least is an advance, because I'm not quite sure about last year, when you did reject Mrs May's deal despite my passionate appeals that that was as positive a Brexit as we were likely to get. Of course, I was a keen remainer and I'm not happy that we're in this situation,...
David Melding: Will you give way?
David Melding: Of course, the principle of Sewel is based on the fact that consent is not withheld unreasonably, and that's quite a test as well.
David Melding: The philosopher Michael Oakeshott said that beyond bare facts, 1066 and all that—perhaps I should say 1282—history is an act of making—it was interesting how Mick started—or at least apprehension, a seeking for understanding. And each generation does that, and it requires great skill. Our great-great grandparents would have put the battle of Bosworth as one of the main items that...
David Melding: Minister, I think we all read the very positive story about Neath Port Talbot yesterday. Of course, they've tested the pilots in England, and they are well on their way to establishing a national network. In fact, by April of this year—that's a whole month before your evaluation is finally conducted—there will be a network in England. Why are we so far behind?
David Melding: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. Can I thank everyone for taking part in this debate? A lot of contributions—I won't be able to get through them all. Mark started with his usual gusto and just the sheer grasp of the subject that he's had because this has meant so much to him throughout his career as an Assembly Member, in which he's championed the whole concept of co-delivery,...
David Melding: Presiding Officer, my question's a little less bellicose. [Laughter.] If I can turn to Susie Ventris-Field, the chief executive of the Welsh Centre for International Affairs, she's pointed out the wonderful civic record we have in Wales in promoting international peace and solidarity. She cites examples like the message of peace and goodwill from the young people of Wales, which, in the next...
David Melding: Minister, if I could turn to domestic production, it's now been 27 years since a Welsh language film was nominated for an Oscar; Hedd Wyn, in 1993, and a very fine film it is. And of course, this can be a key part of our international strategy in portraying to a modern Wales the vital Welsh language culture that we do enjoy here. Now, during the Culture, Welsh Language and Communications...
