Mr Neil Hamilton: I'd like to raise another point of order—
Mr Neil Hamilton: Another point of order about Joyce Watson—
Mr Neil Hamilton: Further to that point of order, Llywydd, I'm concerned about your ruling today, because I also have read what Gareth Bennett said yesterday—I wasn't in the Chamber for the speech—and it seems to me that this is a point of argument and debate rather than a point of order. The remarks that Gareth made yesterday seem to be related to a proposed Bill in the House of Commons, the gender...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Will the Cabinet Secretary agree with me that when you have to provide a multiplicity of reliefs and exemptions, it's generally speaking a sign of a bad tax? Whilst the measures that have been announced yesterday are certainly very welcome, they don't actually get to the heart of the problem. Additional support for the childcare sector affects 100 businesses out of nearly 4,400 and for local...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I'm grateful to the Cabinet Secretary for that reply. Is she aware of problems that have been created for students who want to study postgraduate law degrees at universities like the BPP University in Bristol, where these courses have not been designated for student support? Students have had to defer enrolment to another time. This is very unfair. I know the Cabinet Secretary has been...
Mr Neil Hamilton: 2. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on Student Finance Wales? OAQ51459
Mr Neil Hamilton: The health Secretary announced last week a £68 million plan for health and care hubs, including 11 new hubs and GP centres, as well as the refurbishment of existing clinics and health centres, which is all very welcome. But there are towns in various parts of Wales that feel they haven't had a fair share of health service resources. As far as Montgomeryshire's concerned, last week's...
Mr Neil Hamilton: The impact upon the planet from carbon dioxide emissions in Wales is, to all intents and purposes, irrelevant—that's the point I was making—given that our output is so small, whereas the effect on landscapes is immediate and apparent. But on that note, I would like to wish the First Minister a happy Christmas and a successful new year, to congratulate him on the dexterity with which he's...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I rise to the challenge that the First Minister gave to me. No, I would take exactly the same view of proposed opencast developments that intrude upon areas of outstanding natural beauty, and similarly with nuclear power stations. Indeed, there would be no Hinkley Point power station in prospect if it weren't for the UK Government's decision to pay ridiculous amounts of money for energy to...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. There's clearly no point in pursuing the line of questioning that the leader of the Conservatives has embarked upon, as you're determined to kick this issue as far into the long grass as possible, so I'd like to turn to something else. I wonder if the First Minister saw in The Times last Thursday a news story under the headline 'End of wind turbine "blight" after...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Will the First Minister make a statement on Welsh Government support for financial services in Mid and West Wales?
Mr Neil Hamilton: I'm delighted to rise to support the eloquent and moving plea of Adam Price, who opened this debate. I would like to think that David Melding's speech was purely for the purposes of testing the hypotheses of those who have spoken so far, and he's acting, therefore, as the devil's advocate, an honoured position in Catholic theology. But, sadly, I think he believed the sophistical arguments...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I'm grateful to the leader of the house for that reply, and as this is the first opportunity I've had to do so, I congratulate her on her promotion, which I think, for what it's worth, was well deserved.
Mr Neil Hamilton: I thought her zeal and her courtesy in her previous incarnation was much appreciated, and I wish her well in her new position. She may remember that I raised recently with the First Minister the case of Amazon in Jersey Marine advertising for workers through the Central European Recruitment and Contract Services Ltd. The company had contacted one of my constituents to say that they wanted to...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I appreciate that the Cabinet Secretary has an open mind and he's not in a position today to announce any final decisions, because that's the whole point of the consultation process, and I appreciate that having put £22.5 million into Celtic Manor he should want to get a good return on that investment. Therefore, I hope that that's going to inform his decision taking in this respect as...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I'm sorry that the Cabinet Secretary doesn't seem to think that the reality of what's going on in the rest of the world is something that should be at the forefront of his mind when he's designing a tax system for the United Kingdom or for Wales, because the way to end up at the bottom is certainly to carry on thinking along those lines. To revert to the experimental tax case that Suzy...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch yn fawr iawn, Llywydd. I'm sure the Cabinet Secretary will agree with me that, for the foreseeable future, the resources available to the Welsh Government depend crucially upon the health of the UK economy and economic growth, and we need to increase the national UK growth rate. He said to me in a debate in this Chamber a few weeks ago that there's no evidence in general that lower...
Mr Neil Hamilton: 4. Will the Leader of the House make a statement on community cohesion in Mid and West Wales? OAQ51422
Mr Neil Hamilton: I think, if the Member examines the record, he will find that, under the first Blair Government, they reduced the proportion of debt in GDP up to 2001, and from 2001 to 2010 it rose steadily every year until the explosion after 2008. I haven't got the figures with me today, but I'm happy to send them. He'll find them in the House of Commons library research paper, which gives them. So,...
Mr Neil Hamilton: We need to know much more about the Government's priorities and how they conform to the spending plans that they've announced. In this context, I would like to thank the Chairman of the Finance Committee—who speaks for me in this respect if in no other—for the exemplary way in which he's chaired the committee, and indeed the unfailing courtesy of the finance Secretary in his appearances...
