Adam Price: I have some very simple and bad news for him: yes, we have huge debt in the public sector, but has he looked at the state of corporate debt in the private sector? The entire economy of the western world is indebted. So, what is he suggesting? That we all cut all economic activity, and that we go back to ground zero? Re-read Keynes by all means. We are back in the same situation where...
Adam Price: I will come to the remarks of the Cabinet Secretary in a second, but listening to the spokesperson of the Conservative Party, I was put in mind of one of those choice quotes of John Maynard Keynes who, in an earlier time of economic turbulence, said: ‘Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct...
Adam Price: Very briefly, yes.
Adam Price: Well, I don’t know, but it’s a question that, jointly, we can put to the Government. Certainly, I’d be very keen that it is done on a proper data-gathering basis so that we can learn the lessons for the future as well. I think Hefin David made a good point, actually, that, obviously, the motivation of owner-managers is going to be different. Ultimately, they are there, obviously, to...
Adam Price: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. It’s been a wide-ranging, largely positive and, indeed, at times, a deeply passionate debate. Thank you, Janet Finch-Saunders, for injecting that note of passion. I’m not going to say it often, so, enjoy. [Laughter.] Indeed, thank you as well to Bethan Jenkins for reminding us that we can even do our bit for the Welsh economy while in our pyjamas, or whatever...
Adam Price: Yes, certainly.
Adam Price: Yes, absolutely, and he’s anticipated my point really. These shimmering cathedrals of modern retail have an important part to play, of course, and we wouldn’t want people going elsewhere and going further afield to have those kinds of experiences, but when we look at the picture of some of the smaller towns that, traditionally, are particularly associated with smaller businesses and,...
Adam Price: Yes, absolutely. Are we going to see him sporting those next week as well—or maybe now? [Laughter.] I think that existing businesses reinventing themselves, absolutely, is as entrepreneurial as the start-up. Possibly we get too taken up with the hype, maybe, purely of the start-up, but actually the role of existing businesses and established businesses, we know, from the work of the FSB on...
Adam Price: Diolch, Lywydd. It’s a great pleasure to propose this motion in the name of my—we don’t have honourable friends in this place, do we? But, he is a friend and he is quite honourable. [Laughter.] It’s a timely debate, obviously, because we have the fourth national Small Business Saturday coming up, which is taking place across the four nations of the United Kingdom. It’s a nationwide...
Adam Price: The Cabinet Secretary’s obviously referring to the very worrying report from Reuters yesterday based on an e-mail circulating among the trade unions and other sources. Could he say at what point he was aware of the possible proposal to close one of the two blast furnaces at Port Talbot and if he raised this in his letter to the new interim chair of Tata, Ratan Tata? Could he also say: the...
Adam Price: Will the Minister make a statement on reports of potential job losses at Tata Steel’s Port Talbot steelworks? EAQ(5)0086EI
Adam Price: I thank the Cabinet Secretary for this statement on the Landfill Disposals Tax (Wales) Bill. You wait for one Welsh tax for over 700 years, and then two come along at once—funding vehicles both arriving together. We are very grateful for the opportunity, of course. This tax doesn’t raise as much in revenue as the land transaction tax—indeed, the hope is that the revenue will reduce. But...
Adam Price: Of course, I do urge the Cabinet Secretary to invest in the south-west, in the creative industries. We’ve seen industry here in Cardiff with Gloworks—maybe Gloworks 2 might be on the horizon—and Pontio in Bangor. We need investment in the creative industries in every part of Wales, and we wish to see that in the south-west too. May I ask him—? I want to see every part of Wales...
Adam Price: Some of the autumn statement money in England is going to be used to build hyperfast broadband capability through fibre to the premises. Isn’t there an opportunity here for us in Wales, as we begin to think beyond Superfast Cymru, instead of investing in a privately owned monopoly, which is highly problematical, as Ofcom’s decision today demonstrated, to create a publicly owned digital...
Adam Price: What discussions has the First Minister had regarding the relocation of S4C to Carmarthen?
Adam Price: On a point of order, Chair. I’m new to this place, so I don’t know what the rules are, but is it in order for a Minister of the Welsh Government to heckle from a sedentary position a backbench Member who is trying to be heard? Could you rule on that?
Adam Price: I’m very pleased to move the amendment on behalf of the Plaid Cymru group. I think there’s no two ways about it; this is an extremely regressive tax. If you look at the history of it, it goes back to 1601, actually—the introduction of the old Poor Law. Essentially, the problem with it was that, for centuries, of course, it was true that demand for land and property were essentially...
Adam Price: Can I urge him to go a little bit further? We saw, actually, a national infrastructure bank announced by his colleague, the shadow chancellor, in a speech on 27 September. It was repeated three days later by the leader of the Labour Party—it’s good to see some policy alignment happening there. Surely, rather than just expressing constantly our disappointment with Westminster, the point...
Adam Price: One of the policy levers that many Governments are beginning to focus on is the idea of an infrastructure bank, as I raised yesterday with the First Minister. We’ve had one announced this month in Canada by the Prime Minister there. There was the creation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank last year, and discussion from the former Labour Prime Minister in Australia about doing the...
Adam Price: I think I’m going to change the aperture a little bit from bus lanes in Cardiff to the world economic outlook. [Laughter.] I was wondering whether the Cabinet Secretary shares a growing global consensus, I think, amongst Governments right across the world that now is the time for infrastructure spending like never before. It may be the only policy lever that we have. One of the few positive...
