Mark Reckless: Against.
Mark Reckless: Against.
Mark Reckless: In favour.
Mark Reckless: Although Gareth tried to move it.
Mark Reckless: Yes.
Mark Reckless: In favour.
Mark Reckless: Abstain.
Mark Reckless: In favour.
Mark Reckless: He referred, also, to the non-COVID health impact and the risk that that was going to lead to further loss of life than any lives that would be saved by continuing lockdown. I think that's a very strong point, and when the Minister and others urge caution, I would respond that caution cuts both ways and, as I think some Members recognise, there's no avoidance of risk in the decisions that we...
Mark Reckless: Thank you very much, Dirprwy Lywydd. We're certainly getting less interventions with this approach. I don't know whether that improves the quality of debate or not. But, can I start by thanking David Rowlands for his excellent introduction to our motion? David emphasised the long-term impact on the economy of this lockdown, the non-COVID health consequentials, and the particular impact the...
Mark Reckless: I just want to reflect on, I think, an important difference between how our budgeting is done in Wales and how it's done at the UK level, particularly in a crisis like this. It strikes me that the UK Government has looked and taken its decisions on what spending it considers necessary—sometimes UK-wide, perhaps more often for England. And then, having made that decision, it then borrows or...
Mark Reckless: We will, in the Brexit group, also be abstaining on the supplementary budget and not voting against. Generally, as the Minister said, it's small-scale, technical and modest changes, and it's anything but this time. I mean, just the numbers: £2.1 billion—10 per cent of the budget added in the space of just a few months is absolutely extraordinary.
Mark Reckless: First Minister, the fact that some people may be in a minority or disagree with your approach does not mean they want to live elsewhere. Today, we vote on the supplementary budget, with vast appropriations and reallocations of funds. But, in your Government amendment to a later debate today, you suggest it's not enough and the UK Government must urgently remove fiscal restrictions that...
Mark Reckless: First Minister, yesterday, the Prime Minister announced the reopening of restaurants, pubs and entertainment venues and a switch from regulation to guidance, saying he would trust in the British people's common sense. Can you confirm that emphasis on British common sense does not apply to Wales and you intend to keep Wales lagging several weeks behind England? The leader of the opposition...
Mark Reckless: Against.
Mark Reckless: Against.
Mark Reckless: As a South Wales East Member, I reflect today, after Steffan and now Oscar, that two of the three Members with whom I was elected just four years ago are now dead. Oscar stood for country, the community and constituents, at least in my experience. He was born in the British empire, came to Wales, to the United Kingdom, and was a patriot, but with a nuanced understanding of our present and our...
Mark Reckless: Abstain.
Mark Reckless: Abstain.
Mark Reckless: Abstain.
