Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:38 pm on 10 October 2017.
He stands there and lectures us about the less well off when only a few days ago he wanted to get rid of the education maintenance allowance. There he is—he stands there—. In fairness the brass neck is shining in front of us. But the reality is that we can’t take lectures from the Tories about this. We know that tourism taxes exist in many countries in the world. It makes no difference at all to demand, but what it does is generate money for tourism businesses. It generates the infrastructure for tourism so that visitors contribute more, rather than local people—his constituents—having to pay more in order to provide the infrastructure for tourists. We think that’s a way of sharing the burden. We think that’s a good way of ensuring more money is available for tourism. I would have thought, given his constituency—. [Interruption.] Yes, I know it hurts. I know it hurts, but, given his constituency, I would have thought he would welcome anything that would ensure that visitors pay a little more to contribute to the local economy. He is against his own constituents’ interests.