7. 7. Welsh Conservatives Debate: The Programme for Government

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:17 pm on 28 September 2016.

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Photo of Mr Neil Hamilton Mr Neil Hamilton UKIP 5:17, 28 September 2016

Well, we’ve had a spirited debate this afternoon. I appreciate the way in which it was opened by Andrew Davies, and, although we’re in different parties, I think we have a lot in common. We’ve got one thing in common—we’re both against this useless administration that has dominated Wales for so long.

When the First Minister gave his statement on this last week I dismissed this document as a pot pourri of platitudes. Well, I think it’s 15 pages of fluff, isn’t it? That’s what we’ve got here. It’s what you might call a soufflé of sugary froth, but soufflés do not benefit by being warmed up, and this is the third time we’ve had a programme for five years in the fifteen or sixteen weeks that we’ve been here in the fifth Assembly. So, if we’re going to get a new programme of government for a Government of five years every five weeks, then we’re going to be producing a lot of paper and cutting down a lot of trees over the next few years.

If you look through this document, it is very long on words but very, very short on action. We’ve heard from speakers in the debate today of its limitations. I want to focus on agriculture, representing Mid and West Wales. All that the document says on agriculture, basically, is we’re going to

‘work with partners to secure a prosperous future for Welsh agriculture’.

Well, who isn’t going to do that? But that comes as little consolation to farmers—[Interruption.] Little consolation to farmers, who have no idea what the Government’s going to do about TB, no idea what the Government is going to do about the collapse in farm incomes. Yes.