Darren Millar: I'm glad, frankly, that the Welsh Government has finally woken up and smelt the coffee. I told you back in 2010 that this service was not good value for money for the taxpayer, and that alternatives needed to kick in. In fact, I've spoken about a number of alternatives that you could have looked at over the years, including an opportunity for the plane to hop to a number of different...
Darren Millar: First Minister, football, and sport in general, of course, is a huge opportunity for Wales to make itself known on the international stage, but one opportunity that your international strategy really has missed is the opportunity that exists between faith communities in Wales because of their links with faith communities overseas. There are many churches, chapels and mosques across this...
Darren Millar: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Betsi isn't working. You've heard it time and time again in this Chamber over a number of years now. Patients are being let down. Patient safety is being compromised. Some patients have come to harm; others have even died as a result of what has happened in the health board. We know that the working environment for staff is unacceptable. Staff are under huge...
Darren Millar: Minister, will you take an intervention?
Darren Millar: It's just on this matter of gender quotas. Do you accept that the Senedd currently does not have the powers to legislate in the equal opportunities field at the moment, and that, on that basis, we cannot introduce gender quotas?
Darren Millar: When we considered these matters as a committee, it was actually the case that flexible lists could also allow for the zipping of candidates whilst still giving that direct accountability link. So, you could still have gender quotas if that's what people were persuaded that they wanted, but you could also have the opportunity to give that direct link to an individual to their constituents....
Darren Millar: Will you take an intervention?
Darren Millar: We don't have the powers.
Darren Millar: Of course, I think we should all remind ourselves it was a referendum that established this place. You can't govern without referendums when you have significant constitutional change. We had referendums on further powers. I campaigned for further powers for this Senedd back in 2011. When you have change, you have to have referendums to give the public their say.
Darren Millar: You were, I remember it.
Darren Millar: Will you take an intervention?
Darren Millar: Sorry, you made reference to the former First Minister wanting to max out the borrowing, effectively, on the M4 relief road. Of course, the finance Minister was the current First Minister at the time; he was the one that signed the letters requesting that that money be made available for a road.
Darren Millar: Will you take an intervention?
Darren Millar: Oh, sorry. I thought it was 10 minutes that—
Darren Millar: We must remember that the existing system of elections has delivered 50:50 representation on a gender basis in this Senedd in the past. And on that basis, there's no actual need to take this particular action. So, why on earth would this Welsh Government want to embark upon a journey that is going to end in the Supreme Court on the current basis of the devolution settlement? Because that's...
Darren Millar: We believe—[Interruption.] I've taken a number of interventions.
Darren Millar: We believe that people should be selected as candidates not because of their gender, or their race, or their religion, or their disability, but because of their qualities and merits as candidates. That is our firm belief. And I ask the question as well: why do we actually need to take any action on that front when you look at the fact that the Senedd actually had...
Darren Millar: The Conservative Party is a meritocracy. We believe—[Interruption.] We believe—[Interruption.]
Darren Millar: I haven't got a note of the turnout.
Darren Millar: What I do have a note of—[Interruption.]—what I do have a note of is the result, and two thirds of people in Wales rejected wholeheartedly abandoning the first-past-the-post system. Two thirds of the people who voted rejected that idea, and that is why they must have the opportunity to vote and say whether they want to reject first-past-the-post here in the Senedd. Because the ability for...
