Lee Waters: The tone of the comments—. Other Members have made reference to the whip being cracked. I assure Members of this Chamber that there is no whip needing to be applied in this afternoon's debate. We are all of one voice in agreeing with this independent process being set up and following that through and at the end of it having a full and open debate. At that time, I shall remove the bite mark...
Lee Waters: I think you've said enough, Mr Davies—
Lee Waters: He can do that in his own time, Llywydd, with respect. I'm not taking an intervention. I'm not taking—[Interruption.] I'm not taking an intervention. [Interruption.] That's what I heard—
Lee Waters: I find this afternoon's debate incredibly difficult and uncomfortable. There's much that I would like to say, but I think it would be wise not to say it at this time. In two days' time, we're going to be burying our colleague and friend, and I think there's something unseemly about having this nature of debate while that still hasn't happened. I find it reprehensible the way that people have...
Lee Waters: How dare you. How dare you. You’re a disgrace. You are a disgrace.
Lee Waters: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary, and can I welcome you to your new role? The most recent Public Policy Institute for Wales report for the Welsh Government predicts that a third of Welsh jobs are projected to be impacted by automation, but would the Cabinet Secretary agree that automation isn't something to try and halt; it's something to try and harness? These advances in technology present...
Lee Waters: 5. What assessment has been made of the impact of automation on the delivery of public services? OAQ51365
Lee Waters: Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on the development of a precision agriculture strategy for Wales?
Lee Waters: What assessment has the Cabinet Secretary made of the impact that changes in HMRC rules will have on out-of-hours GP care in Llanelli?
Lee Waters: It's also very encouraging to note, in her report, the positive public debate that still persists. Eight-five per cent believe that the Welsh language is something to be proud of, and 76 per cent of Welsh speakers agree that public organisations are improving their Welsh language services. I think that is very encouraging. Also as encouraging is the fact that 68 per cent of people would like...
Lee Waters: May I add my congratulations to the Minister on taking her new role? I can assure Neil Hamilton not to worry overly about the void that there is to fill. Eluned Morgan is a substantial figure in her own right, so I think we can be confident in her ability to take on this agenda with aplomb. I welcome that this is a positive report from the Welsh Language Commissioner. There has, as she notes,...
Lee Waters: Will you take an intervention?
Lee Waters: I had a fascinating visit to a community pharmacist in Burry Port the other week, and I was disappointed that the computer system the pharmacist has does not speak to the computer system that the rest of the NHS uses, and these kinds of digital barriers are stopping the potential this model has.
Lee Waters: For me, this isn’t about flaming taps or earthquakes. These are clearly issues that would need to be sorted out if fracking was ever to be permitted, but I think there’s a much broader point that this debate is about that cuts through, I think, some of the tortured arguments that David Melding just made. Our whole way of life, since the second industrial revolution, has been built upon...
Lee Waters: Will the Member give way?
Lee Waters: Will the Member accept that the evidence shows that, in order to achieve modal shift, when you are making capacity changes like removing pinch points, the most effective way to do it is to use road space reallocation? So, rather than that space filling up with cars again, you’re locking in bus lanes or traffic light changes or wider pavements to try and build in that behavioural change.
Lee Waters: There’s a picture. [Laughter.]
Lee Waters: Diolch, Llywydd. I’ve agreed to give a minute of my time to my colleagues Mike Hedges, Jenny Randerson and David Melding—Jenny Rathbone, I do apologise. Let me start by saying that the M4 can be horrendous. At rush hour, I have regularly been sat in endless queuing traffic, and this isn’t just a problem at the Brynglas tunnels, but at several points along the motorway, and if there’s...
Lee Waters: But, we need to fashion a solution that will last—an M4 fit for future generations. And I just don’t believe that the proposed relief road will be anything more than an expensive stop-gap. In fact, as a policy approach, it manages to do something quite remarkable: it succeeds in both being outdated and premature at the same time. Outdated because the evidence of the last 50 years of...
Lee Waters: I think Bethan Jenkins has very fairly summed up the recommendations of the report, so I don’t wish to repeat what has already been said. So, I’ll make just a brief contribution, first of all to highlight the consensus there was in the committee and the way that we all worked together on a cross-party basis to reflect on the Government’s proposals and to point out what we thought of...
