Mr Neil Hamilton: Can I support what Adam Price has just said? It’s not so much due diligence that we’re dealing with here but due dilatoriness, I think, because the Circuit of Wales developers have wanted this meeting around the table for some time, and they’ve not been given it. The limited nature of the guarantee that is being sought here is, I think, an important element in consideration. Because the...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on paediatric care in Mid and West Wales?
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, I haven’t got the—[Inaudible.] [Laughter.]
Mr Neil Hamilton: Has the Counsel General seen the statement on the UK Government’s website, which says that, When we do leave the EU, we fully expect that the legal status of EU nationals living in the UK, and that of UK nationals in EU member states, will be properly protected.’ And, therefore, the attempt by Simon Thomas to create fear in the minds of those who he described as victims is entirely...
Mr Neil Hamilton: It’s very important, I think—all of us who believe in the integrity of the United Kingdom should remain united on this point that, actually, Wales would be vastly poorer if it left the United Kingdom, because there is no way that any cut in any budget by a UK department that would be subsequently devolved to Wales could possibly be compensated for in any other way. Therefore, because...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I’m glad to hear the First Minister say that, because I agree with him that it’s rarely wrong to consult the people on a major issue of this kind. If there were to be a referendum campaign, it would also have some relevance for Wales, because Scotland has a budget deficit of £15 billion a year, although it’s a larger economy than Wales, and it’s much the same figure as we have...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch yn fawr, Lywydd. I’d like to wish the First Minister happy birthday, as well, and to assure him that, as you get older, there’s nothing to fear as long as you remain in rude health like me. The First Minister will agree—[Interruption.] The This Minister will agree, I’m sure, whatever our differing views on Brexit, uncertainty is to be deprecated, and the Prime Minister, at...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, the alternative Government of Wales would be one of him and me, I think, which would be a very alternative Government indeed, of course. It is true to say that it would undoubtedly be a rainbow coalition of parties if Plaid Cymru, the Conservatives, UKIP and the independents had combined in order to provide a change of Government for Wales. But, a change is as good as a rest, as they...
Mr Neil Hamilton: UKIP has no difficulty at all in supporting this motion today. The best that can be said of the Labour Government in Cardiff is that its problems are serious but not terminal, which is the opposite to the position of the Labour Party in Westminster, whose problems are terminal but not serious. Fortunately, we haven’t got—[Interruption.] Fortunately, we haven’t got Jeremy Corbyn as the...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, I rise to support Dai Lloyd in this proposal and congratulate him on the convincingly ministerial way in which he introduced the motion today. My party’s often unfairly accused of living in the past, but respect for the past is an essential element in what we stand for. Lee Waters, the other day, talking about UKIP wanting to take the party back to the 1950s—of course, what he...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Can I welcome the statement and the appointment of Aled Roberts to his important new role? I’d like to commend the Minister for his common sense and realistic approach that he brings to this important task, in particular what he’s just said in response to Llyr Gruffydd about tailoring our policy according to the area or region of Wales, and the different needs that we have in order to...
Mr Neil Hamilton: With respect, I’ll try again. I still haven’t had an answer to my question. Does the leader of the house accept that lower tax rates can produce higher tax revenues? In which case, everybody wins.
Mr Neil Hamilton: With respect, the leader of the house didn’t answer my question. What I was keen to elicit was whether it makes it more or less likely that the Welsh Government will use its powers to vary rates of income tax, put them up rather than down, or vice versa. There is a lot of economic evidence to show that lower tax rates can actually produce higher tax revenues. In the 1980s, when Nigel Lawson...
Mr Neil Hamilton: The leader of the house will have seen that last week’s budget was not an unqualified success for the Chancellor and for the Government. Does she and the Welsh Government draw any lessons from that experience, with a view to how they’re going to exercise the tax-varying powers we’re about to obtain under the Wales Act 2017?
Mr Neil Hamilton: I thank the Cabinet Secretary for that answer. Brexit does give us the freedom to introduce new regulations and controls as well in areas where we might have wished to do so but had been thwarted in the past by the lack of enthusiasm on part of our other partners in the European Union. One of these areas is the live export of animals, for example, which we’ve been prevented from banning and...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Well, I’m very pleased to hear that, and I can say from my own experience that, talking to people who are involved in groups that represent agriculture and farming, they’re pleased with the level of engagement that you have given them. But I don’t know whether you’ve yet had a chance to read the policy statement on Brexit that has been published by NFU Cymru, but one of the positive...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch, Lywydd. Brexit is probably going to have a greater impact on agriculture than almost any other sector, obviously because it’s regulated under the common agricultural policy and funded largely through the European Union. The Government, therefore, has to be thinking ahead very deeply about what’s going to be our agricultural regime after we’ve left the European Union. I’ve been...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Of course there is a humanitarian case for aid and nobody is against that, but a lot of our aid budget actually goes to countries that are spending a huge amount of money upon projects that we wouldn’t regard for a moment as humanitarian. For example, we’re increasing our aid to Pakistan this year by £100 million to nearly £450 million a year. Pakistan, this year, is increasing its...
Mr Neil Hamilton: But the First Minister knows that never happens. He has only to look at the recent history of the UK Government’s debt position to see what the reality is. We have a well-being of future generations Act in Wales—a very good thing it is too—but what we’re doing by carrying on with this ‘rake’s progress’ of borrowing, of course, is to hand on to the next generation a massive debt,...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch, Lywydd. Whilst the First Minister was away last week, he may have seen that the Cabinet Secretary for finance wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer about proposed public spending cuts in two or three years’ time, which set to amount to £3.5 billion. The Government, this year, is running a budget deficit equivalent to £60 billion. George Osborne managed the singular achievement...
