Adam Price: We look forward to that statement. One of the key questions is how we can emulate the success that we've seen in Scotland. We have the potential there, but we have not, to date at least, been able to realise it. One of the key themes emerging from COP27 is that rich nations in particular are failing to uphold their responsibilities to support decarbonisation efforts in developing countries...
Adam Price: Diolch, Llywydd. Last month, the United Nations Environment Programme published its emissions gap report for 2022. It contained a stark message for humanity, as we've already heard, with the international community falling far short of the decarbonisation objectives outlined in the Paris agreement. There is currently no credible pathway to reducing global heating below 1.5 degrees. The...
Adam Price: When you were in Ireland recently, you reiterated your view that the United Kingdom represents, for Wales, a great insurance policy, but how is that policy working for us when the contract can constantly be changed over our heads, against our wishes and against our interests? You talked about the pooling of risk through the union, but surely the events of the last few weeks have demonstrated...
Adam Price: You've been calling for a general election, and there is an unanswerable case for having one, given now we've had two Prime Ministers without a democratic mandate. The truth is that Prime Minister Sunak is free to ignore that, as he is free to ignore you. The UK's unwritten constitution concentrates huge power in the hands of the PM, which explains the mess we're in. Now, the doctrine of...
Adam Price: Diolch, Llywydd. First Minister, you quite rightly complained that the last Tory Prime Minister failed to pick up the phone to you, and indeed treated yours and the other devolved Governments with contempt. How do you intend to approach relations with the latest Prime Minister? Will you perhaps decide to change tack and try and pick up the phone to him, as leaders of other national...
Adam Price: That's precisely what the Labour Party did in Westminster, isn't it? What could a solidarity tax do? It could help us meet the reasonable demands of public sector workers to improve the Welsh Government's pay offer, which even a Labour-affiliated union has called derisory—the miracle workers, First Minister, that you just referred to in the NHS. It could help us relieve some of the pressure...
Adam Price: But the tone was fiscal conservatism, wasn't it? That's not the kind of progressive politics that we want to see from a change of Government in Westminster. Now, in response to the Chancellor's statement, the Minister for Finance and Local Government here called on the UK Government to use its tax levers more equitably. But is that an approach that you as a Government are also prepared to...
Adam Price: You can be sure of it.
Adam Price: First Minister, Liz Truss's u-turns this week were so numerous and so breathtakingly rapid that they became a political pirouette. But she wasn't the only one, was she? Three weeks ago, Keir Starmer said that Labour wouldn't reverse the cut to the basic rate of income tax, it would be the wrong thing to do. Now, this morning, the shadow Chancellor said that Labour supported the policy to bin...
Adam Price: I just wanted to ask a quick question.
Adam Price: Will you give way? Just building on this point, during the COVID crisis, what did we do? We shielded the most vulnerable. Isn't that what these proposals for a rent freeze and a temporary emergency ban on evictions are designed to do? They are to shield the most vulnerable in the context of this cost-of-living crisis.
Adam Price: So, you agree with me, First Minister, about levels of pay, but you say your hands are tied by Westminster. Well, isn't it time, then, to take matters into our own hands? And no, I don't mean—. I'm not referring to independence or the devolution of welfare; that is a matter for another day. I mean in the here and now. In response to Alun Davies, you said you were committed to using all the...
Adam Price: I have to say to the First Minister: look, awful politics in Westminster is not an excuse for poor politics here in Wales. These disputes are not just about pay; they're about the survival of our essential public services. In healthcare, we have a workforce crisis, with more and more people leaving by the day. There are 3,000 nursing vacancies in Wales, a rise of more than 1,200 on last year....
Adam Price: Diolch, Llywydd. This winter's cost-of-living crisis is coming on top of years of austerity, in which workers' pay has fallen behind year on year. People are working more hours for less money, and working people in increasing numbers are saying that enough is enough. Only a few weeks ago, at the Labour conference, a motion was unanimously backed from Unison for inflation-proof pay rises. Led...
Adam Price: It begs the question: why did we introduce a moratorium during COVID on evictions? There are certain circumstances—emergencies, crises—where it is necessary to bring in temporary measures, and I'm afraid that many, many people are making these arguments in the housing sector, not just in Scotland, not just in Wales, but across the whole of Europe. Can I turn to one of the unfunded Tory...
Adam Price: Nobody, First Minister, is arguing that they are a panacea; they need to be implemented alongside a whole range of measures. They are temporary measures because we are facing an emergency. Winter is almost upon us. Why do you think, First Minister, that Shelter in Wales is calling for a rent freeze, is calling for a moratorium? Why do you think that the Kerslake commission, led by the former...
Adam Price: Diolch, Llywydd. In your discussions with the Scottish First Minister last week, it was reported that you focused on the cost-of-living crisis. It's good to see that you, at least, First Minister, are prepared to talk with the SNP even if Keir Starmer is not. Now, yesterday, the SNP Government published emergency legislation to freeze rents across Scotland, backdated to 6 September, running...
Adam Price: What additional funding will the Welsh Government allocate to Carmarthenshire County Council as it faces increasing energy costs for its buildings?
Adam Price: People are facing this cost-of-living crisis now, aren't they, so we need a sense of urgency. A rent freeze, it's practical, it's necessary, but it's not radical or new—even the Heath Conservative Government did it in 1972 when we were last facing a period of stagflation. Harold Wilson, again, did it when Labour was elected in 1974. If the centre-right and centre-left of British politics...
Adam Price: In an emergency, we as a Senedd need to be able to pass emergency legislation; we can sit at weekends, if necessary, to do this. The Scottish Government has also announced a rent freeze at least until the end of March next year. Sadiq Khan, as Mayor of London, has asked for the power to introduce a rent freeze there. We have that power already in Wales, and since social housing rent won't...
