Mark Reckless: Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement regarding the impact on services in Wales of having separate consultant pay contracts to those in England?
Mark Reckless: Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement regarding completion of the eastern bay relief road?
Mark Reckless: Will the Member give way?
Mark Reckless: Diolch, Llywydd. I thank Steffan Lewis for his amendment. At least on the English translation of what he was saying, the reference was to an expectation on Welsh Government to commission the report, an expectation on them to publish the report, but then a requirement to respond, whereas, at least in the English language version of the amendment, I read all those as being mandatory. That’s...
Mark Reckless: Could I say, Llywydd, I don’t want to move amendment 41?
Mark Reckless: Similarly, I do not seek to move 42.
Mark Reckless: Similarly, Llywydd, 40 all the way through to 42 are not amendments I wish to move, given the key decision and principles being taken.
Mark Reckless: As it’s consequential to the amendment that’s just been defeated, I won’t move 39.
Mark Reckless: Diolch, Llywydd. Nick Ramsay alleges, in reference to the dissing of his amendments, to collusion between Plaid Cymru and the Government. I'm not quite sure what degree of interaction goes on and whether it's properly called collusion, but I think it does give a difficulty for others in this Assembly who are very clearly on the opposition as to whether we’re scrutinising some degree of...
Mark Reckless: Diolch, Llywydd, and I promise to shortly yield the floor to others as I had the lead amendments on the first two groups. I adjusted my previous set of amendments in light of what we heard at the committee stage and a number of other amendments that I pursued them I’m not pursuing here. However, this amendment is in the same form that I put to committee, and I think it’s a key amendment...
Mark Reckless: I move formally.
Mark Reckless: I think amendment 37, Llywydd, would be consequential to amendment 35, so, I also seek permission to withdraw or not vote on 37, but seek a vote on 36.
Mark Reckless: Diolch, Llywydd. I thank all Members who have contributed comments, and recognise, with Nick Ramsay, we’re trying to do a pretty similar ambition with our amendments 36 and 32. I note the strength of the Cabinet Secretary for finance’s reply in terms of competence issues around 35, and I had only sought to put in an amendment that I considered might be arguable. I accept his view that...
Mark Reckless: Diolch, Llywydd. The Finance Committee spent quite a significant period of time considering the issue of land partly situated in Wales and partly situated in England. Earlier in proceedings, we understood that there were 40 or so such properties that straddled the border, but as proceedings went on, that number was revised up and up, and we now understand that it is in excess of 1,000. The...
Mark Reckless: I thank the First Minister for his response. The legal position, at least the position that was sent to me in correspondence, has, however, changed. Initially, the focus was that the UK Government could do it because it was the charging authority, but actually the UK Government isn’t seeking to enforce on our side of the road, and it would need to enforce, and there are real difficulties in...
Mark Reckless: I agree with the First Minister, and wish him, Ken Skates and his officials well in pushing that position. The UK Government, I believe, has three very serious legal risks if it seeks to continue tolling without our agreement, and any one of those could be fatal to any plan that it has. First, the Severn Bridges Act 1992 says that tolls should cease after a further fixed sum is raised, and...
Mark Reckless: Diolch, Llywydd. My group leader asked me to pass on his apologies, as he is at a family funeral today. May I commend the First Minister on his Government’s 13 March response to the UK Government’s consultation paper on the future of the Severn tolls? It’s well argued, and faithfully reflects the unanimous view of this Assembly on my motion to support the abolition of tolls on the...
Mark Reckless: The Minister describes this as a technical change, and that was also what the Cabinet Secretary for finance said to me in a letter on 15 March, that it was a technical adjustment within the portfolio. Could the Minister therefore explain why Kirsty Williams told the Children, Young People and Education Committee on 17 October the tuition fee grant will be in excess of original estimates of...
Mark Reckless: 7. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the £21.1 million transferred from the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales to the Welsh Government? OAQ(5)0109(EDU)
Mark Reckless: Diolch, Lywydd, and I think I owe you the deepest of apologies of the Members that you have, certainly in my case, very indulgently allowed to contribute to this debate; I apologise to the Cabinet Secretary also for not having caught at least the earlier part of his remarks. The thing I’ve most noted is that the Cabinet Secretary has listened and he has thought and he has considered...
