Mike Hedges: Diolch, Llywydd. Can I thank everybody who took part in the debate? We’ve seen a great degree of consensus breaking out over most of it. Can I thank the Cabinet Secretary for her response, and can I just thank everybody who either during the debate, or via messages prior to it, welcomed me, and can I just say thank you very much for that? Starting off with Paul Davies—it’s nice to go...
Mike Hedges: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I am an example of Harold Wilson’s statement, ‘a week is a long time in politics’. [Laughter.] I am delighted to open today’s debate on the report from the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee on the future of land management in Wales, although I feel like someone going up to collect the cup and not having played in the...
Mike Hedges: Air quality on Neath Road in Hafod in Swansea is amongst the worst in Wales, due to both its importance as the main road from the north-east into Swansea city centre, and its topography. I welcome the Morfa distributor road, which will reduce air pollution on Neath Road. Does the Cabinet Secretary agree that a bypass is not the solution to all problems of poor air quality, but, in some cases...
Mike Hedges: Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on the building of council housing in Wales?
Mike Hedges: Can I start by saying that I fully support the Welsh Government’s support for decarbonisation? I believe that unless we take appropriate action, catastrophe awaits us, not just in Wales, but across the world. We cannot afford the earth to keep on getting hotter. The three main carbon-based fuels are coal, oil and gas. Coal is composed primarily of carbon along with quantities of other...
Mike Hedges: I’d like to ask for a Welsh Government statement on how the Welsh Government is working with the university sector in Wales to help increase the gross value added. The university sector will play a pivotal role in developing a highly skilled, highly educated and highly productive economy. Developments should include science parks developed by the universities such as Cambridge and Aarhus in...
Mike Hedges: What discussions has the First Minister held regarding the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon?
Mike Hedges: Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on improving transport links in the Swansea Bay City region?
Mike Hedges: When it was first brought in as landfill tax, the reason was to stop local authorities just dumping, to make it no longer economically viable for them to just dump, and the additional cost meant that people started recycling, and it had a huge effect on recycling. So, when it first came in under the Government of Westminster, the aim was, almost exclusively, to try and change behaviour.
Mike Hedges: Thank you very much. Can I say from the start that I fully support this Bill? I may, like some other Members here, including the Member for Mid and West Wales, actually have to leave before the vote, but could I put on record my support for it? Can I also say that I think the one thing about it is that it brings clarity and it brings compulsion? I think that those are two very important...
Mike Hedges: Thank you for that answer. Excluding agriculture, the devaluation of the pound can remove the problem of financial tariffs. Does the Counsel General agree with me that the rules imposed, and making sure that the World Trade Organization rules are being met, is really a far greater problem than a 5 per cent or 10 per cent tariff, which further devaluation can put right? Actually meeting the...
Mike Hedges: 1. What assessment has the Counsel General made of the legal implications for Wales of the imposition of World Trade Organisation rules in the absence of a trade agreement between the UK Government and the EU? OAQ(5)0041(CG)
Mike Hedges: Can I very much welcome the statement, as everybody else has done? Certainly, the framework, I think, is very helpful. Can I just say, I agree entirely that taxes are the admission price that each one of us has to pay to live in a civilised society? It’s taxation that provides the key public services that we all rely on. We cannot live in a country with Scandinavian-type services based on...
Mike Hedges: Can I thank the First Minister for his answer? As people are well aware both here, and definitely in Swansea, Swansea is very much the capital of knotweed. It’s not a title we particularly like. But it’s a huge problem within my constituency and the neighbouring constituency. I’m very pleased as to the success of the initial trial, but I wouldn’t be fulfilling my duty as a Swansea...
Mike Hedges: I’m a strong and long-term supporter of no-cold-calling zones, and I’ve raised this several times in this Chamber as far too many of them target the very vulnerable, and far too many of the very vulnerable are taken advantage of. I have some very popular no-cold-calling zones in Swansea East. I’ve also noticed a growth, and I’m sure everyone else in this room has as they’ve been...
Mike Hedges: 6. Will the First Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government's use of psyllids in tackling Japanese knotweed? OAQ(5)0641(FM)
Mike Hedges: Thank you, Presiding Officer. No-one wanted a minute in this debate which is hardly surprising, because I think most people have got other things on their minds. It’s probably a bad day to have this debate: it’s not only the eve of a general election, but we’ve already had one housing debate today. But I think housing is one of the great challenges facing all of Britain, including...
Mike Hedges: I wish to concentrate on co-operative housing. With the average age of first-time buyers being 37 and expected to rise to 40, it’s perfectly clear that the current housing system needs to be changed. Hefty deposits, the difficulty in securing affordable mortgages from lenders, and the overall lack of good quality housing are amongst the main reasons that have been attributed to the...
Mike Hedges: Morriston Tabernacle: the Tabernacle chapel building is a very special building. George Thomas described the Tabernacle as the non-conformists’ cathedral. Besides being a beautiful chapel, Morriston Tabernacle is a religious and cultural centre in the lower Swansea valley. However, unfortunately, fewer people go to chapel these days. This raises serious questions about the future of the...
Mike Hedges: Cabinet Secretary, one of the changes that you are proposing is joint boards, which I see as very similar to that of fire and rescue, currently. Do you see the benefits of having joint boards and do you believe that there is great advantage in involving as many members of the local authority as possible in these joint boards so that they can report back not only to their own council, but...
