Mr Neil Hamilton: And I suppose the elephant in the room for most people is the extent of river pollution. I know that this is a much bigger issue than just in relation to fish stocks. We've had many a debate here about proposals for nitrate vulnerable zones and so on, but although nobody denies that there is a problem with pollution, it is being addressed by voluntary action, to a great extent. We've drawn...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Okay. Well, I understand the Cabinet Secretary's position on that. There are very diverse reasons for the decline in fish stocks in our rivers. One of them is predation by fish-eating birds. There's a great deal of evidence now. The Angling Trust has produced a database, for example, of predators within inland situations. Apparently, cormorants are now a significant factor in this. Although...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch, Llywydd. Inland fisheries and freshwater fishing is an important part of the rural economy. The Environment Agency has estimated that there are about 1,500 jobs in Wales that depend directly upon it. Whilst we're all concerned about the levels of salmon and sea trout in our rivers in Wales, I wonder if the Cabinet Secretary could give me her views upon Natural Resources Wales's...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I'm naturally pleased that a national tourism tax has been abandoned. I'm not opposed to giving permissive powers to local authorities, if they want to introduce some kind of levy. I think they would be foolish to do so, but as someone who believes in devolution beyond the Assembly, I think that this is something that is not necessarily a bad thing in itself. I fully understand and support...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I'm in a pleasant position of being able to give a broad welcome to the finance Secretary's statement today, and I applaud his measured and cautious approach to this important area of policy. He's chosen what I think possibly to be the least damaging of the options that he was facing us with, and I welcome much of the detail of the statement. I'm pleased that work is continuing on a social...
Mr Neil Hamilton: The First Minister will remember that last week, in my question on the agenda, I noted that the Deloitte report said that the financial and strategic planning at the health board is simplistic, with budgets generally rolled forward into the next year. Again, the leader of the opposition pointed out the disastrous financial performance of these boards. Part of this Deloitte report also said...
Mr Neil Hamilton: The First Minister knows that for every success there are masses of failures. Four of the health boards out of seven are in special measures or targeted interventions, as the leader of the opposition pointed out earlier on. The Welsh Labour Government has a direct responsibility for the state of the health service in Wales. The Cabinet Secretary chairs meetings of the Betsi Cadwaladr health...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch, Llywydd. With permission, I'd also like to welcome Jack Sargeant to the Assembly, and to congratulate him on the maturity of his opening speech, very confidently delivered, and we look forward to hearing a lot more of him. The First Minister will know that lots of people in north Wales think the letters NHS stand for 'national health shambles'. Since 2010, the NHS has cut the number...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, I, indeed had a searing electoral experience in 1997 too, but it was in the 1997 general election. So, I do understand what Lee Waters is saying, but I don't think this would be a complicated decision: it would merely be asking the Welsh people whether they want to increase the size of the Assembly by 50 per cent or whatever figure is arrived at as a result of the deliberations that the...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Well, when we all stood for election in UKIP 18 months or so ago, we said we were coming to this Assembly in order to confront the Cardiff Bay consensus, and I think the debate this afternoon shows that there is a role for a party like UKIP that will do that. We have been graced in this debate unusually by the Llywydd, who's added lustre to what we've all...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Will the Counsel General confirm that, regardless of the position regarding data protection legislation, the misuse of private information for party political purposes when that private information is obtained in a ministerial capacity, with the use of official resources, is wrong, and that is also a breach of the ministerial code and should not be repeated? We have had instances of this...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Yes, exactly. I'm asking the First Minister if he will not keep this matter in perspective. As 90 per cent of the growth in trade in the next 15 years is forecast by the European Commission itself to be outside the European Union, the global market for what we produce in Wales is going to grow, whereas the market in Europe is stagnant. That's why, as Mark Isherwood pointed out earlier on, the...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, this is quite an interesting document that's been produced by the Welsh Government, but only for the statistics it includes. There seems to be very little, if anything, that is new in terms of policy development. It's very disappointing, I think, that the same kind of pessimistic refrain that we've heard at any time in the last two years nearly, now, since the referendum, is coming from...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Sir James Dyson, who runs one of our biggest companies, has said that uncertainty is an opportunity. [Interruption.] The opportunity, actually, is the rest of the world—
Mr Neil Hamilton: —which is growing at a far greater rate than Europe. So, the opportunity is to export to the rest of the world and to capitalise upon that. What is the Welsh Government doing to prepare for the possibility of opening up other markets around the world, where the European Commission itself says that 90 per cent of growth in demand is going to come in future years?
Mr Neil Hamilton: Thank you. Exactly. Why is the Welsh Government not doing anything at all, so far as I can tell, to prepare for the possibility of a 'no deal' Brexit, to help Welsh businesses to cope with the transition period that is inevitable, whatever the outcome?
Mr Neil Hamilton: But the First Minister talks as though there is a world of certainty that we're in at the minute and we're about to go into a world of uncertainty. Anybody who's ever run a business, and I know the First Minister hasn't, knows that you have to cope with changed circumstances.
Mr Neil Hamilton: But the First Minister is still fighting the referendum campaign. My question was a practical one—that other Governments and regional Assemblies are doing something to prepare for the possibility of a 'no deal' Brexit. That will not come about, if it comes about at all, because of what the UK Government wants; it will come about because the EU will irrationally decide to cut off its nose...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. I'd like to follow up the last question that was asked by the leader of Plaid Cymru a moment ago. She referred to this excellent report from the external affairs committee on how the Welsh Government is preparing for Brexit. In the Chairman's introduction to the report, as she said, there is a need for the Welsh Government to be doing more in terms of scenario...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I'll have my apology next week, shall I, at the start of questions? [Interruption.]
