Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. The First Minister is no doubt familiar with the aphorism that all political lives end in failure, unless cut off at midstream at a happy juncture. Is the First Minister's political career still in midstream, and is this a happy juncture?
Mr Neil Hamilton: I thought that the leader of the opposition, with forensic skill, took apart the threadbare arguments of the Government against the publication of these reports. It certainly was startling to read the leaked letter that I received just minutes before First Minister's questions yesterday, threatening the Llywydd with legal action. Yet, then I heard, just a few minutes after I read that page,...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Whilst I have no objection whatsoever to naming the bridge after the Prince of Wales, whose Welsh connections are well known—he and I lived together once in a loose way, as residents of Pantycelyn hall at Aberystwyth, as students back in 1969—I do agree with Russell George that we do need to advertise Wales's part in the United Kingdom presided over by an ancient monarchy. But we do have...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Can I congratulate the Counsel General on the calm and measured approach that he's brought to this, and in particular to applaud the way that he described the situation we've now arrived at as a development that shouldn't be over-dramatised? I suppose that if there are bona fide legal doubts about the compatibility of the continuity Bill with current legislation setting up this Assembly and...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I'd like to turn to another tax now to explore the impact on behaviour. It seems, in the case of the sugar tax, imposed now by the Westminster Government, that the Welsh Government is due to get £47 million in extra funding over two years because of spending in England linked to that. Forecasts of what the levy would raise have fallen from £520 million to £240 million. The behavioural...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I fully accept what the finance Secretary says there. Obviously, if we are going to have such a tax, we do need to realise that the behavioural effects that it might bring about can also be in the opposite direction—a point to which I'll come in a minute. Although, this is generally thought of as a problem to be addressed in urban areas, there is a potential impact on rural areas too. A...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch, Llywydd. On 13 February this year, the Cabinet Secretary said that the vacant land tax is to have an impact on behaviour rather than to raise revenue. In the Republic of Ireland, the tax barely covers the cost of collection, which is just something that has got to be borne in mind. I wonder to what extent the Cabinet Secretary is able to say that land banking is a real problem in...
Mr Neil Hamilton: The statement does, of course, contain the ritual tilt at Brexit, and talks about threats, but I hope the Minister will recognise that, in environmental terms, what is the threat here? The threat is that we take these decisions for ourselves rather than have them taken for us by others. We are in charge of our own environmental policy from the day that we leave the EU, and that gives us the...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I don't wish to be unkind to the Minister—sometimes it's a positive duty on us, as earlier on in First Minister's questions—but, in this particular instance, I would like to follow up the points that were made initially by David Melding earlier on. The statement does lack in depth what it contained in length. The Government often, I think, shows its commitment to recycling by repeating...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, I'm sure the First Minister is also aware of subsection (6) of section 37, which says that, if the Assembly does pass a motion requiring the production of a document, a direction may be issued by the First Minister or the Government to direct the person at which that requirement is pointed not to comply with it. That, of course, would place the Government in a very embarrassing...
Mr Neil Hamilton: As I listened to the First Minister's tortuous, legalistic response to the leader of the opposition earlier on, I was reminded of Denis Healy's first law of holes, that when in one, the best thing to do is to stop digging. Another international comparison of the position that the First Minister seems to find himself in today is the Watergate affair. He'll remember that it wasn't the break-in...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, if I were counsel, Llywydd, in any legal action that might be brought, I would provide a legal argument for it, but the subsection that the First Minister refers to states, in relation to Ministers' functions—or, rather, the letter states that section 37, in relation to Ministers' functions, must identify a function that is exercisable by the First Minister and Welsh Ministers...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch, Llywydd. Well, I adopt my traditional role of being a friendly, disputatious neighbour of Simon Thomas in this particular instance—not that I'm opposed, obviously, to having a high level of environmental protection. Anybody in his right mind wants that; we all live in this world, and we all want to be protected against the ills that come from pollution. But I am a bit worried about...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I thank the Cabinet Secretary for that response. The medium-term financial plan of Pembrokeshire County Council says that the county has the largest shortfall between its actual spending and what the Welsh Government predicts it needs to spend to deliver services. And because the Welsh Government assumes that the council tax is collected at the same level for every authority, Pembrokeshire...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Finally, I'd like to revert to a question that Simon Thomas started with about the case that is being taken up against the Welsh Government by Afonydd in the European Commission, and the consultation on NVZs, which is still causing, with the uncertainty, great concern to farmers, and to reiterate my support for what Simon Thomas said about the success of schemes like the blue flag scheme in...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Another interesting fact that I've picked up is that a YouGov poll commissioned by the National Farmers Union has found that only 18 per cent of the people of Wales had Welsh turkey on Christmas Day, and that only 29 per cent of people had Welsh potatoes. Obviously, there are great opportunities to take advantage of what we might call gaps in the market that have existed hitherto, and leaving...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. Supermarkets are now gearing up for their annual promotion of lamb at Easter time, and it's a great opportunity, obviously, for lamb producers in Wales. I was disturbed to read, in the online version of Farmers Weekly this morning, that some retailers are claiming that British lamb is out of season at Easter. This has been, of course, hotly denied by the National...
Mr Neil Hamilton: 4. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the local government settlement for Pembrokeshire County Council? OAQ51952
Mr Neil Hamilton: I regret having to perhaps pour cold water upon the enthusiasm of my neighbour here for moving Welsh law in the direction of—
Mr Neil Hamilton: —European jurisprudence, but I'm sure that the Counsel General will agree, because it's mentioned in the statement itself that codification can also occur, of course, in common law jurisdictions, such as the United States and Canada, and merely making sense of the disorganised, uncontrolled development of a series of different statutes or Orders and consolidating them into one single unit...
