Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:40 pm on 17 January 2017.
It is odious that the leader of the Welsh Conservatives tries to use people who are dealing with young people with autism, using that as a way to attack workers—[Interruption.]—attack workers in Wales and the rest of Britain. The reality is that unemployment is lower in Wales than it is in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland because of the actions of the Welsh Government. He talks about a threshold. I don’t remember him arguing for a threshold in the Brexit referendum. Do you remember that? I don’t remember that at all. Thresholds weren’t important at that stage. I don’t believe in thresholds. I didn’t believe in a threshold for the Brexit referendum. I don’t believe in a threshold as far as strike action balloting is concerned. What I believe in is that we stand up for the rights of workers in Wales, despite what is being imposed on them by a hostile Tory Government. Fifty of his own MPs—50 of his own MPs—were calling for strikes to be banned in the public sector. What, are you going to arrest strikers now, are you? Going back to the 1970s—he’d take us back to the 1930s. [Assembly Members: ‘Hear, hear.’]