Andrew RT Davies: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I welcome the opportunity to move amendment 3 in the name of Paul Davies, in what is a very challenging time, to say the least at the moment, and a sensitive time as well. It was only this time last year that, obviously, this Chamber was reflecting on the news of the first tranche of announcements around redundancies at the Port Talbot site—and...
Andrew RT Davies: Cabinet Secretary, thank you for your statement this afternoon. I agree with you that unions do play an important role in the workplace, especially in righting wrongs that workers might face. They have, over many years, improved working conditions across the United Kingdom. But the issue for many people is the politicisation of many of those unions and, in particular, the detachment of what...
Andrew RT Davies: Will you take an intervention?
Andrew RT Davies: I do think it’s slightly regrettable that you seek to deprecate the current Secretary of State, who has worked tirelessly, along with colleagues, to deliver this Bill. But I will pose the question to you—you were a Member of Parliament in 2006, which voted for the then Wales Bill that gave us the LCM process; I don’t think your record in Parliament really stacks up against the transfer...
Andrew RT Davies: I don’t accept that point that the Member has put, but he’s perfectly entitled to make the point. Also, the Bill does contain the ability for work to be done as the body of Welsh law increases, going forward, to make sure that the jurisdiction is responding to that body of law—as it increases, going forward. But I do think it is a very sad day when Plaid Cymru, in this Chamber, chooses...
Andrew RT Davies: And I readily admit that I stood in the way of criminal justice and policing coming to this place. I made sure that that was not the case in this particular instance, but where powers made sense to be transferred, I argued for those powers to be transferred. I am particularly pleased to say that income tax will be coming to this institution to make sure that we do have greater accountability...
Andrew RT Davies: I welcome the opportunity to contribute in this debate today on the legislative consent motion, and especially the tone in which the debate has been conducted so far, as someone who as was there, shall I say, at the start, when, in 2011, I became leader of the Conservative group here and speaking with the then Secretary of State, Cheryl Gillan, in the setting up of the Silk process, and the...
Andrew RT Davies: Leader of the house, could we have two statements, if possible, please, with the first building on the question that my colleague, Nick Ramsay, ask the First Minister around business rates. I heard the response, as everyone did, from the First Minister that the guidance, the rules, the regulations would be coming forward shortly around the business rates proposals, and we do welcome the...
Andrew RT Davies: You definitely want beer and sandwiches back in Cathays Park, don’t you, First Minister? The people you are repaying are the union general secretaries who have funded Labour up to the tune of £11 million since Jeremy Corbyn became leader. I challenged you to bring forward that autism Bill, which people were genuinely asking for. I have not heard people calling for a trade union Bill here...
Andrew RT Davies: I believe it’s the Conservative Party that are delivering for Welsh workers, as they are for UK workers, by delivering an economy that has delivered record rates of employment, opportunity and prosperity. But I notice you did not dwell on the reasons why your Government stood in the way of delivering an autism Bill, as opposed to the trade union Bill, where people upstairs after this debate...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. First Minister, last October, one of the most passionate debates was held within this Chamber, and the chamber upstairs was full up with people with an interest in the autism community and wanting to see legislation brought forward from your Government. We were led to believe there was consensus around this, in the Assembly election—that all the political...
Andrew RT Davies: Will you take an intervention?
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for taking an intervention. I do take the point and support the point that there is excellence going on every day within the NHS, and in particular in our ambulance service. But would you respond to the reports today of a rugby player who broke his neck and had to wait two hours on a pitch before the ambulance arrived to pick him up to take him to hospital? Can...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. It’s never a good idea to put a sweet in your mouth just before you ask a question [Laughter.] This initiative that the Government has brought forward, will it be part of the childcare offer that is being made available, because it has been alluded to at committee stage that schools obviously might form part of the facility through the school holidays? I...
Andrew RT Davies: It is the case that, if a Cabinet Secretary or Minister in any part of the UK comes forward with additional money to assist in the accessibility of drugs that have proved problematic over the years, and indeed have also, through the administrative process, proved cumbersome in getting those approvals through for patients who have got life-limiting conditions, that decision is definitely going...
Andrew RT Davies: Cabinet Secretary, I listened very closely to the answers that you have given, and you said that the pressures are not as great as they were this time last year. In your most immediate response, you said that. Yet, the last figures for A&E, for people waiting over 12 hours or more, went up by 22 per cent to 2,955. Are you in a position to confirm that those figures are on a downward...
Andrew RT Davies: Do you agree, First Minister, with Stephen Kinnock, that the proposals put forward on the table by Tata Steel are impressive proposals, and actually these do unlock significant investment for the steel plants across Wales, and offer a secure future, certainly in the short and medium term, for the many thousands of jobs that depend on this investment being unlocked? Seven thousand jobs—
Andrew RT Davies: Seven thousand jobs depend on this deal. Do you agree with that?
Andrew RT Davies: I believe we have a very supportive UK Government, First Minister, when it comes to this issue, and I’d be interested to know how many requests have gone to Downing Street to seek that meeting on the specific steel issue. Do you agree with Stephen Kinnock, and very often—[Interruption.] I can hear the Deputy Minister chundering from a sedentary position, but he might well like to listen...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you for that clarity, because I think it is important to understand the gravity of the decision that the steelworkers do face, and it is their decision, in fairness, because they are being asked to give up something in return for assurances around the long-term future of the steel industry here in Wales. We understand now from Plaid Cymru that it is their opinion that this deal should...
