Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:59 pm on 24 September 2019.
I want to raise the problems that constituents in Porth are having regarding mobile phone coverage. This follows a fire around a mobile phone mast nearly a fortnight ago, and there's been an absence of mobile signal in many areas around the town since then. As you can imagine, this is causing a great deal of inconvenience not just to individuals, but also to local businesses. Is there any guidance that the Government can issue to mobile phone providers in terms of best practice for them to adhere to for restoring mobile phone coverage as quickly as possible? Also, does the Government have a view as to how long it should take before financial compensation is triggered for customers without mobile phone coverage?
I was alarmed to see that the monarch's second son has been invited to attend a campus of the University of South Wales. While I'm a firm believer in the principle of innocent until proven guilty, this member of the royal family has been accused of some very serious crimes and abuses of power. We don't know yet if he will answer the allegations in court or not, and many believe that his connections with the upper echelons of the British establishment will shade him from the justice system, even if there is a strong case to answer.
What we do know is that this royal maintained his friendship with a notorious paedophile, Jeffrey Epstein, after he pleaded guilty to procuring an underage girl for prostitution. This was the same Epstein that his wife, Sarah Ferguson, accepted £15,000 from to pay an employee to whom she owed money. Furthermore, there has been no explanation as to how this royal came to be pictured with his arm around the waist of a 17-year-old girl—a woman who says she was procured by Epstein as a teenager to have sex with him.
In the light of #MeToo and Time's Up, this should be enough to ensure that this man is not welcomed to the University of South Wales while such serious allegations, without any adequate explanation, are hanging over his head. The allegations should not mean business as usual, and I wonder if you share my concerns about the damage that this could cause to the university's reputation internationally. What pressure can the Welsh Government bring to bear so that institutions under its charge do not have guests in this unsavoury situation welcomed onto the campus with open arms?