Mr Simon Thomas: You will be aware that the Hywel Dda health board consultation is based on improving services in the community, and that is the foundation of an announcement made by the Government earlier this week in bringing health and care closer together. But the reality is that people have heard these rumours in the past, and the truth on the ground is that the waiting list is five years for an NHS...
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. If I can respond very briefly to the debate and first of all just put on record that, as I've mentioned the tidal lagoon, I am a community shareholder in the tidal lagoon, like many other people have been. It's not a declarable interest, I have to say; it's not that big. But it does show that many hundreds of people in the area have put their own money...
Mr Simon Thomas: Will the Member give way? Just for clarity, to make it absolutely clear, I'm very much in favour of nationalised public utilities, but the proposal in front of us today, in the context of a privatised market where we in the Assembly don't have the powers, is just to establish our own national company that could be part of the players within this field.
Mr Simon Thomas: Sorry, I was just about to come to that. [Laughter.] And I agree, and I was just about to use it as a good example of where this national energy company could help. Because how would the Welsh Government do that? Does it just give £200 million to a private company? Please, I don't think so. If you're going to give Welsh taxpayers' money to a company, which I wouldn't oppose, but let's do...
Mr Simon Thomas: So, we do have a very real example now this week, it seems, because it's widely reported that this week the Westminster Government will reject the proposal to have a tidal lagoon in Swansea bay. We still wait for that. [Interruption.] Just a second, if I may. I think they're trying to get what they call the good announcements out first—Wylfa, Heathrow—and then the tidal lagoon will creep...
Mr Simon Thomas: I’ll give you some context first of all. Wales is a nation that is rich in energy. We produce, or collect, I should say, more energy than we use, therefore, we are an energy exporter. But yet, energy prices in Wales are among the highest in Europe, and that demonstrates the situation that we’re in as a nation. Energy poverty is particularly damaging to low-income households. There’s a...
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I can’t recall when was the last time we had a debate in the Assembly led by two papers, one published by one opposition party and the other published by another opposition party. This debate emerges from a paper that I published around a year ago on the proposal to establish an energy company for Wales. As I said in the previous debate, if you...
Mr Simon Thomas: The Wales spatial plan.
Mr Simon Thomas: There are a few areas where I would go further, particularly in terms of renewable energy, but I welcome the fact that we are having an integrated debate on how these various elements build into a healthier urban environment, and an environment that’s more beneficial for our citizens. And I do want to emphasise the 'urban'. The title of the paper talks about cities, but we don’t really...
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you, Llywydd. I start, despite our amendment, by welcoming the debate that we’re having this afternoon. I don’t think it’s appropriate that we formally welcome a paper produced by any party, but I do welcome the debate and I welcome what’s contained within the paper, and I have nothing that I would personally disagree with.
Mr Simon Thomas: Would the Member give way?
Mr Simon Thomas: I thank the Member. I’ll have some kind words to say about what he is proposing later on, but just on this particular issue—he’s mentioned the city deals. Doesn’t he see that the city deals that are being promoted by his own Government in Westminster actually don’t really take into account the sustainability agenda that this debate and, to be fair, the paper that has been published...
Mr Simon Thomas: Of course, the law also relates to Crown lands in Wales, which are held by the Crown Estate, which is not devolved in any way, and is a further complication in that regard. The Crown Estate raises some £0.25 billion a year from its estate in Wales, which refers back to the argument that we had about fracking. If fracking happened in Wales, much of it would happen on the Crown Estate, and...
Mr Simon Thomas: Turning back to the Swansea bay city region and travelling in and out of that region, we’ve concentrated a great deal in the past few days on the rail franchise, which is in the hands of the Welsh Government but, of course, there is still important transport into Swansea, and Carmarthen also, with First Great Western and companies coming into Wales, and Network Rail still owns that. The...
Mr Simon Thomas: I think the comments of the First Minister, whatever his personal circumstances, were unfortunate, because it kind of adds to the myth that cycling and walking are dangerous and the car is safe when, in fact, it's the car that is the dangerous thing in our communities and in our cities. You've been asked enough about cycling, so let me ask you about walking. What in this new £60 million...
Mr Simon Thomas: If I could ask the Cabinet Secretary—. He’s just mentioned some of the ways in which the franchise can cut down on carbon emissions; can he confirm specifically that we will see trains using hydrogen as part of this programme over the next 15 years? Such trains are already running in certain parts of Germany, and it’s a way, as he suggested, of skipping beyond the electrification...
Mr Simon Thomas: Could I ask for a Government debate to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Wales becoming a Fairtrade Nation? That's something that—. I think we were the first in the world to have that status, and it's something that I think we should celebrate as an Assembly. But it'd be good to celebrate it with a Government debate, because we're using Government time then, which is good, because it's on...
Mr Simon Thomas: Will the Cabinet Secretary give way?
Mr Simon Thomas: From what she's said, I might take that to understand that she does not expect any further testing or any further process to be undertaken by NRW before this material can be deposited in Welsh waters. Is that a correct understanding of what she said?
Mr Simon Thomas: So, it really is a very important petition, I think, because, setting aside the issue of radioactivity, which I'll address just in a second, this essential issue is one of lack of control over our own natural resources, and being forced, in effect, to take the spoils from a new nuclear power station—which I personally oppose, and therefore not very keen to take anyway—but not having any...
