Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:47 pm on 27 June 2017.
There have been changes. My point is that we are always last. We are always at the back of the queue. We must be honest. We must be honest among all parties in this Chamber. I would say the United Kingdom is not working for us. Too often, as in this case, it is working against us. The first step for us here is to admit that the UK, the Westminster system, is not delivering for Wales. It is penalising Wales, and once we admit that, we should look seriously at the next steps for Wales to use all of the influence that we have as political parties to ensure that this country moves up that pecking order.
As I said, the £1.5 billion deal is just the beginning. The DUP will no doubt come back to the table for more. Beyond the headline cash figure there are commitments on air passenger duty, corporation tax and more city deals. At the same time as we’re being told that Wales can’t have control over air passenger duty and that we should be grateful for the city deals that we’ve already got, the DUP will be leveraging these extra concessions throughout this Parliament.
We cannot afford for Wales to be silent when that happens and I would urge all fellow party leaders here today to think about what we can all do to amplify our voices. We must consider what we can do collectively because we should all accept that what Wales is doing at the moment is not working.
To finish, this deal has made many people very angry. The cash to Northern Ireland has effectively ended austerity there while we still have to suffer from austerity in Wales. Wales should demand parity of treatment and everyone here has a duty to do that.