The next debate is the debate on the Standards of Conduct Committee report 03-20, and I call on the Chair of the committee to move the motion. Jayne Bryant.

Motion NDM7503 Jayne Bryant

To propose that the Senedd:

1. Considers the Report of the Standards of Conduct Committee - Report 03-20 laid before the Senedd on 2 December 2020 in accordance with Standing Order 22.9.

2. Endorses the recommendation in the report that a breach has been found.

3. Resolves that for a period of 21 days, excluding days while the Senedd is in recess, commencing with the passing of this motion and ending no later than midnight on 21 January 2021 that:

a) the Member’s rights and privileges of access to the Senedd and Ty Hywel shall be withdrawn under Standing Order 22.10 (ii);

b) the Member shall be excluded from any Senedd proceedings under Standing Order 20.10(iii), and

c) the Member shall not be entitled to any salary from the Senedd in respect of the days to which paragraphs a. and b. above apply, in accordance with Standing Order 22.10A.

Motion moved.

Diolch, Llywydd. As the Chair of the Standards of Conduct Committee, I formally move the motion. The committee considered this report from the former commissioner for standards in October 2019. The report was in relation to a complaint made against Neil McEvoy MS, alleging that he'd breached the code of conduct for Members by being physically and verbally aggressive towards another Member. The Standards of Conduct Committee gave the commissioner's report careful consideration and agreed with the conclusion of the commissioner that a breach had been found.

Our report sets out the committee's judgment as to the sanction that is appropriate in this case. The Member concerned took the opportunity afforded to him through the complaints procedure to provide oral evidence to the committee. He also lodged an appeal to this report, which was considered and dismissed by a legally qualified person. The appeal report has been laid, as well as the committee's report. The facts relating to the complaint and the committee's reason for its recommendation are set out in full in the committee's report.

I rise to oppose the reports, and I'm going to be suspended for something that I've not done. The unedited closed-circuit television proves that statements were either embellished or simply made up. The standards committee refused to view the CCTV. They also refused to allow me to have witnesses, so I published the CCTV. If you view the unedited version from the Senedd, there was no finger-pointing, I was not in Mick Antoniw's face; that was untrue. Mick Antoniw alleged that I aggressively went towards him in an aggressive manner. Well, the CCTV shows that didn't happen. I actually held the door open for Mick Antoniw. Mick Antoniw alleged that I chased him and blocked his path into this Chamber, but again the CCTV—it's there for everybody to view—shows that did not happen. It was an untrue allegation. 

But the truth doesn't matter here, does it? It's about this report. We now know that officials of the former standards commissioner discussed on which grounds to pursue me before any statements had been submitted. You couldn't make this up. You couldn't make it up. And also without looking at the CCTV. Now, the statements were collected by the staff member who referred to me as a species of animal. She classified me as a species of animal, and that unbiased person was allowed to go and collect the statements, after they'd decided how to pursue me. So, clearly, no bias there. 

There was another recording, which I listened to, and before I made my appeal—this is great; the public need to listen to this—before I made my appeal, officials discussed how to make sure my appeal failed. And a very senior member of this Senedd, a very senior official, was quite open to that—quite open to it. So, before I made my appeal, before I made the appeal—. Sorry, not open, sympathetic. The word was 'sympathetic'. The official here was sympathetic to making sure my appeal failed. 

So, what we have here is a Parliament of double standards. I lost the appeal, obviously. I was always going to lose the appeal. We have double standards here, in this building. I have had two MSs physically shout in my face—physically. I didn't react. Nothing was done. I've been sworn at. Nothing was done. I've been regularly insulted in this Chamber. I've been called a racist, a misogynist— you name it, I've been called it. It's never heard, and nothing's ever done. Whenever I complain, nothing is ever done. My staff, and I will speak up for my brilliant staff now, it's on the record—it's on the record—that they have been bullied in this place by politicians and by the staff of politicians.

I think the public will find it interesting that it's seen as a more serious matter to call a Labour politician a red Tory, in an aggressive way, than actually committing crimes. I'm getting a more harsh punishment here for saying something to a fellow politician in a corridor, more of a punishment than people who've committed crimes as Members of this Senedd. Staggering. Staggering. But I think it's okay, really, because, as a person of colour—and all you guys out there, all you people of colour out there, will know what I'm saying here—I'm used to this treatment. It's the way that it is. 

In six months' time, none of these people here will matter, and it's up to you guys out there. You have the future of Wales in your hands. It doesn't matter today that I'm going to be thrown out for three weeks, because in six months' time we have a vote and there are 59 bums on seats here that you guys out there can vote out of office. So, I urge you all to support the Welsh Nation Party and let's get it done. Diolch yn fawr. 

Bullying of any kind is disgusting behaviour. We must, of course, all do all we can to eradicate it in all its forms. What Neil has been accused of may not have been acceptable, but it isn't necessarily more impactful on the victim than the bullying inflicted in the Chamber, where mobbing is a regular occurrence. We should all be accustomed to challenge and heckling in this place, but the line between that and abuse is often crossed. I'm sure that some Members will excuse their behaviour as 'banter'. Well, there is a very big difference between good-natured banter and the onslaught that often greets anyone in this place who has a dissenting opinion. It isn't banter; it's a means to silence and exclude dissenting views, as is the pride of certain Members of this place in sending other Members to Coventry. And when I stood up to a couple of them and told them to shut up because their mobbing was so intrusive, it was me who ended up being asked to apologise, not them. As per usual in a bullying culture, the bullies painted themselves as the injured parties.

Members of this place have spoken many pious words about bullying and how damaging it is, and, of course, there are many Members who are pleasant, professional people, or at least have the courtesy to listen, even if they don't agree. How many Members of this place, though, who now condemn Neil McEvoy, have tried to do something about the bullying that goes on? How many of you have spoken up about it or confronted it when it happens?

Today is the first time we're debating a potential case of it happening—why is that? This place is supposed to be about equality, yet the only thing equal about it is that the number of times bullying has been left undealt with is equal to the number of times it's happened. If we vote for this motion, I'm concerned that the perception will be that bullying in this place is dealt with, and that this is the only case of it happening. That would be a huge distortion of the truth, to the point of being utterly disingenuous. Bullying happens a lot here and yet the only time it has been charged as a breach of anti-bullying policy or standards is on an occasion when the complaint has been motivated by political gain. And anyone who thinks that bullying doesn't go on here needs to really educate themselves about what passive-aggressive bullying actually is. If we genuinely want Wales to be governed by people from a more representative cross-section of society, rather than a Government made up largely of people from the political class we have today, we must act against bullying every time it happens, not just those times when a few people deem it politically advantageous to do so. Thank you.

Llywydd, it was not my desire or intention to speak in the debate on this report by the standards committee. In the normal course of events, on a matter as serious as this, the Member found to be in breach of upholding the standards of this Senedd would have the courtesy and the integrity to take the opportunity to apologise to the Senedd and to the people of Wales, and that would be the proper thing to do. However, I cannot stay silent on this matter. The Member has publicly attacked the integrity of the report, of the committee, the independent witnesses and also myself. In almost Trumpian style in his social media, he suggests the committee is victimising him for being a Welsh-born person of colour. This is a totally false and reprehensible attempt to distract attention from his own conduct.

Llywydd, I welcome the committee's report on a matter that has been hanging over me for more than 18 months. The conclusions reached I believe are wholly accurate and consistent with the independent witness evidence. Llywydd, there can be no place for bullying or even the threat of physical violence in this place. Such behaviour must never be allowed to become normalised. That is why I pursued the complaint. It gave me no pleasure to make, but the seriousness of the incident cannot be underestimated, as is clear from the independent witness evidence. [Interruption.] For months after, for months after—[Interruption.] For months after, I was always—[Interruption.]

Neil McEvoy, you were listened to in silence. Will you allow Mick Antoniw to be listened to in silence?

For months after, I would always ensure, when walking to the Chamber, that I was in the company of others or alert to the space around me, in the event that I would be accosted or assaulted by the Member. This is what I expected from a Member of this Senedd who told me he would 'get me', a threat I take very seriously. This is not the environment I expected to work in when I stood for election to this public office, and it must not be allowed to become normalised in any way.

Llywydd, there is a broader concern I have. This Member has been suspended from public duties as a Cardiff councillor on two separate occasions for bullying and threatening behaviour. These are matters of public record. This is the third occasion. My concern is that Neil McEvoy is in denial. The truth is that he has proven to be a serial bully and aggressor whose conduct brings this place into disrepute. Llywydd, this Member's conduct has also had an adverse effect on individual employees of this place, as can be seen from the witness evidence. In my view, this type of behaviour cannot be allowed to continue.

I thank the committee and its staff and all the staff of the office of the standards commissioner for the diligence in the way that they have properly carried out their duties.

I call on Jayne Bryant to reply to the debate.

Diolch, Llywydd. I'd like to thank all Members for taking part in the debate. I'd like to put on record that, as a committee, we don't take these decisions in any way lightly, and we do take our role incredibly seriously. It is a unanimous cross-party committee report. I'd also like to put on record the fact that the committee is clear that inappropriate behaviour has no place in the Senedd. We have taken a firm line on this matter throughout the Senedd, and I can assure all Members that we will continue to do that. I'm incredibly grateful to Michelle Brown for raising the issue around bullying. Obviously, we can only deal with the reports that are in front of us as a committee. But I'd encourage all Members to take part in the Call It Out campaign that's run by the Commission, because bullying has no place in this establishment. It's a serious matter.

Just to finish, the committee stage, to remind Members, is not about redoing the investigation completed by the commissioner. It's about considering what's presented in the report and reaching a conclusion on whether we consider what happened was a breach of the code of conduct and what, if any, sanction is appropriate. The independent appeal considered the process followed by the committee in terms of considering this report, including our decision not to view the CCTV, and found that the committee followed the procedure as set out. That was the independent appeal conducted by Sir John Griffith Williams. I'd urge the Senedd to support this committee's report.

The question is that the motion be agreed. Does any Member object? [Objection.] I therefore defer the vote until voting time.

Voting deferred until voting time.