Leanne Wood: 2. What advice has the Counsel General provided to the Welsh Government on the legal basis for the agreement between the Welsh Government and the UK Government on the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill? OAQ52094
Leanne Wood: 6. What assessment has the Counsel General made of the potential for legal recourse under the Sewel Convention? OAQ52095
Leanne Wood: This is not my hyperbole. Those were the words of the First Minister, and this is nothing short of a Labour-Tory stitch-up. You were backed by Brexit believers while losing the support of every branch in your own party, and people in Wales can see that you've sold this country short. Westminster now have control over at least 24 policy areas and many of those are extremely important to...
Leanne Wood: Diolch, Llywydd. Would the Minister prefer the support of the Scottish Labour Party or the Tories and UKIP in Wales? [Interruption.]
Leanne Wood: I'm sure the Minister is aware that, yesterday, the Scottish branches of the two parties in her Government joined together to oppose Westminster. Instead, in Wales, Labour and the Liberal Democrats have caved in, given our leverage away and weakened the hand of people here in this country. On 27 November 2017, the First Minister said in this Assembly, and I quote, 'we wouldn't accept a sunset...
Leanne Wood: Will you take an intervention?
Leanne Wood: Five thousand five hundred students benefit from the £700,000 school uniform grant. That's £700,000, which is less than 1/150 of the Welsh Government's budget—half of what your Government spends on pizzas and luxury yacht wear on credit cards, but it's still too much for this Government. The price of school uniforms was the justification given for scrapping this grant. On average, parents...
Leanne Wood: I apologise, Cabinet Secretary, for missing your opening remarks, but I have read your statement in full. 'A significant achievement', 'A strong statement', 'Let's get on with making the most of the opportunities Brexit brings'. These are the statements from Alun Cairns, Ruth Davidson and Andrew R.T. Davies. Even the Prime Minister was thanking you today. Tories are clamouring over...
Leanne Wood: Of course, some people want the flexibility of this kind of employment, but most people don't. For that matter, Labour has supposedly committed to end their use. Now, with this in mind, I'd like to point you to page 45 of Labour's 2017 election manifesto. Alongside boasting about the Welsh Government's clearly false record in ending the use of zero-hours contracts, it contains a commitment to...
Leanne Wood: Well, perhaps I can help you, First Minister. Proportionately, more people in Wales are now employed on zero-hours contracts than any other UK nation. If I can put it another way, under a Labour Government, more people per head of the population are in unstable, zero-hours work than in any other country in the UK. Could the First Minister point the 43,000 people in Wales on zero-hours...
Leanne Wood: Diolch, Llywydd. Before my questions, I'd like to acknowledge the announcement made by the First Minister on the weekend. First Minister, you have held this role for a long time and you've had a lengthy term in Government prior to becoming First Minister, and I know that you and I have had our political differences, and I'm sure that we will continue to have those differences, but I genuinely...
Leanne Wood: How is the Welsh Government using public procurement to safeguard and create jobs?
Leanne Wood: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. 'Mission complete'—those were the words of President Trump following the joint US, French and British air strike on Syria last weekend. An estimated 400,000 Syrians have been killed since the outbreak of war in 2011. More than 5.6 million Syrians have fled the country, according to the United Nations, and 6.1 million people are displaced internally. The Assad regime...
Leanne Wood: I would like to begin by thanking members of the external affairs committee for their work on this report and I would also like to thank Steffan Lewis, who can't be here to take part in this debate today but who has made a significant contribution to the work of the committee and will continue to do so when he's able to join them again in the future. Brexit may not have been a policy chosen...
Leanne Wood: Diolch, Llywydd. On the morning of Saturday, 14 April, UK forces joined with the United States and French militaries to undertake air strikes against targets in Syria. Sites believed to be linked to the manufacture and storage of chemical weapons near Damascus and Homs were hit in response to an alleged chemical attack on 7 April. The UK Government did not consult any of the UK Parliaments...
Leanne Wood: There are many places in Wales that have substandard mobile internet coverage, as we've heard earlier on, and my constituency is not immune to this issue. Many communities are affected, but recently in Porth, for example, the council were unable to collect footfall data on the town centre because the counter couldn't get a consistent signal. Of course, this is bad for local residents,...
Leanne Wood: 6. What is the Welsh Government doing to improve mobile internet connectivity throughout the Rhondda? OAQ52008
Leanne Wood: That's not the case.
Leanne Wood: But that risk is there now, isn't it? 'So for me it’s not a question of bombing in Iraq and then bombing in Syria—I don’t see much of a difference.' Those were the complacent words of the First Minister when the prospect of British bombs being dropped on Syria first arose back in 2015. He supported bombing campaigns in Syria then, and he supports them now. Yesterday, the First...
Leanne Wood: The problem is that sounds like a threat, First Minister, and the questions of openness and transparency are not going to go away. They cut to the very heart of democracy, and if there are so many problems with the Wales Act why have they only now been identified? These matters, we'll be coming back to them, but I want to ask you about the question of Syria. Does the First Minister support...
