Huw Irranca-Davies: It seems to me that, on a quiet Tuesday on the run up to Christmas at around 5.05 p.m., the Counsel General stood up in the Chamber in a very measured and calm way and said something that was quite a landmark moment in terms of legislatures within the UK and internationally, and I commend him for doing so. He has put his comments forward in a very measured way, in a very calm way, and...
Huw Irranca-Davies: The business Secretary will know that today I hosted an event in the Pierhead building, close to here, at our Welsh National Assembly, which highlighted the dramatic decline in species and habitats globally. There was recognition, I have to say, in that event of the good steps that the Welsh Government and the National Assembly for Wales have supported, not least with the Environment (Wales)...
Huw Irranca-Davies: I thank the First Minister for that answer. As he knows, the Reading-Heathrow rail link will hugely improve access to Heathrow Airport for leisure and business travellers from south Wales and the south-west, and the west midlands and many other areas. It will reduce travel times down to around 26 minutes, reduce carbon, and transport more people on to rail and away from private transport. But...
Huw Irranca-Davies: 6. What recent discussions has the Welsh Government had with the UK Government regarding the Heathrow Rail Link/Spur? OAQ(5)0332(FM)
Huw Irranca-Davies: It’s a very short intervention. Would she join me in commending coffee shops like the one—I won’t name it, but it rhymes with hosta—that sent my 17-year-old a letter saying the wages for the people who are baristas—and he’s one; not a barrister, but a barista—are going up? They said, ‘This is what we’ll be paying the 25-year-olds, but you’re a barista as well; you can do...
Huw Irranca-Davies: No, because I have a limited time, Presiding Officer. Can I just say—I’m going to run out of time here—we know that overall real earnings are now expected to rise by just £23 a week between 2015 and 2020? This means that the average annual wage will be a £1,000 lower in 2020 than predicted just eight months ago. For those people, the glass is half empty or even worse. I would have...
Huw Irranca-Davies: No, there’s a point of disagreement that we have. We can deal with exploitation of workers by dealing with exploitation of all workers. We can deal in a proper way, in a reasonable way, with controlled and well-managed migration. But let us not place all the evils that have been highlighted by Mark Carney and other informed commentators on immigrants. Please. We had today, out here, a large...
Huw Irranca-Davies: There has been a little bit of criticism today about those on this side of the Chamber who have been a little bit pessimistic in speaking—the glass is half full and so on. Well, I am going to speak this afternoon for those people for whom the glass is, indeed, half empty. When politicians like us wonder why people are lashing out against the establishment, I think that, sometimes, it is...
Huw Irranca-Davies: I thank very much the Member for giving way there. He’s right that, ultimately, we do need to, if not balance the books entirely, at least move towards a more balanced structure within the finances. But does he share with me the worry that, in this period of tightening of the belts, the growth in wealth inequality between those at the very top who seem to have done exceptionally well—and...
Huw Irranca-Davies: I thank him very much for giving way, indeed. I would simply observe that, back in 2007-08 when I was a Member of Parliament, I recall standing up with the then shadow Chancellor supporting the Labour Government for the way that it regulated. They were both wrong on light regulation. They were both wrong. But I have to point out to the gentleman that the shadow Chancellor, George Osborne at...
Huw Irranca-Davies: I thank Nick for giving way. Certainly, having people in work is a good thing. We have to agree on that. But I wonder, what does he make of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s revised forecast now on wages, growth and investment? Because what they’re showing clearly is that a huge number, not a small underclass of people, but a large number of the people we represent who are going to...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Indeed, one of those health boards that has great enthusiasm for this is Cwm Taf. In fact, David’s question puts me in mind of my visit last week to Sheppards pharmacy in Llanharry where I was hugely impressed with the way that community pharmacies are now embracing these new opportunities with the support of Welsh Government to deal with common and minor ailments and, as the Cabinet...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Before discussing the finer details of this budget or, in fact, any budget, it is important to look at the context. The context for this budget are the years—endless years, it seems—of cuts and cuts, and cuts again, from the Westminster Government to Wales, and it’s been driven by twin fetishisms of deficit abolition—not reduction, but abolition; it’s been the defining policy of the...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Diolch, Lywydd. Today, particularly, I want to pay tribute to the efforts of the teachers and the governors, and the young people in my local school, some of whom achieved record GCSE results earlier this year. And I say that because PISA is important, but to pretend that it is the only indicator of success is wholly wrong. Now, I commend the Cabinet Secretary on her frank recognition of the...
Huw Irranca-Davies: I welcome that news, and it is extremely positive. It’s vitally important to my constituents because the response time for those that are life-threatening issues makes, clearly, a major difference to their lives, but also to their families as well, knowing that they have that reassurance that an ambulance, on a red call, will be there in due time. It’s noticeable, however, that we still...
Huw Irranca-Davies: 7. Will the First Minister provide an update on ambulance service performance in south Wales? OAQ(5)0311(FM)
Huw Irranca-Davies: I thank Adam for giving way. Would he note that that’s not only an exclusive innovation within new start-up companies, but actually established high-street companies that may look like very traditional high-street front windows as well? Amongst these is a shoe shop in my constituency, in the Garw valley, in Pontycymer, which looks like a very traditional, if somewhat old-fashioned, quaint...
Huw Irranca-Davies: I welcome the robust stance of the Counsel General in making sure that the voice of Wales is heard at the Supreme Court. That’s right and proper, I feel strongly. Would he recognise that, in those areas of competences that he’s referred to, of course, is the very prominent area of competence in Wales of agriculture and rural development? Whilst it’s right that whatever comes out of the...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Thank you very much. In which case, I’ll try and rapidly do it. I had a wonderful visit—I think it was about two years ago, maybe three years ago—to Harper Adams University, the National Centre for Precision Farming. Tremendous work has been done there in their agricultural engineering innovation centre, and you will see the application of this, the big data, the internet of things....
Huw Irranca-Davies: Very much indeed. A point well made, which others have said as well. This has to be a collaboration between Government and industry—big industry, small industry—academia, research units, but also those front-end practitioners, the farmers themselves in the field, which I’ll turn back to in a moment. Jenny Rathbone my colleague talked—. And I thought it was a lovely phrase that she...
