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  • Mark Drakeford – 2020 Speech in the Welsh Assembly on the Brexit Deal

    Mark Drakeford – 2020 Speech in the Welsh Assembly on the Brexit Deal

    The speech made by Mark Drakeford, the Welsh First Minister, in the Welsh Assembly on 30 December 2020.

    Llywydd, first of all I would like to thank you for agreeing to this recall of the Senedd today. In introducing this debate, I want to make three points. First of all, we must welcome the fact that we have avoided the chaos that would have existed if we had left the transition period without a further deal with the European Union. Until the last minute there was a very real possibility that we could face tariffs on trade with our most important market and providers. It’s difficult to believe that we are facing such a scenario. No responsible Government should have considered breaking its links with European networks that allow us to stay safe from systematic terrorism and crime, but we have a Home Secretary who was willing to consider just that.

    This is not the deal that Wales was promised, but, in a world where we were only days away from the catastrophe of a ‘no deal’ Brexit, at least we have a deal in place, despite its inadequacies. As the Welsh Government has regularly argued, at least with a deal in place we now have a foundation on which to build. The relationship with our closest and most important trading partners has been safeguarded and we can now build upon this and strengthen it for the future. Indeed, the agreement allows for an ongoing process of review, and the Welsh Government will be arguing in favour of a review process that lays a foundation for positive evolution rather than it just being a way for the EU and the UK to keep each other in order.

    Llywydd, my second point has nothing to do with the UK’s external relationships and everything to do with the deeply disturbing state of our internal constitutional arrangements. This is the most important treaty that the UK will have signed for nearly 50 years. It is simply outrageous that in a democracy where the legislature is supposed to hold the Executive to account, the Bill to implement the treaty is being rammed through both Houses of Parliament in one day. The House of Commons will have the equivalent of 15 seconds to debate each page of the draft treaty—less time than it would take to read it, and this when the text of the treaty was only put in the public domain 72 hours before that debate takes place.

    Now, when Mrs Thatcher was Prime Minister—and we know that there are some in this Senedd who still worship at that unlamented shrine—the European Communities (Amendment) Bill 1986 was introduced into the House of Commons in April and did not gain Royal Assent until November of that year, and Mrs Thatcher had a Commons majority of 140.

    Under her Conservative successor, the Maastricht treaty of 1993 spent 23 sitting days in the House of Commons Committee Stage alone. Llywydd, I suspect that the official record does not contain many instances where I have made positive references to Mrs Thatcher, but at least the notion of parliamentary scrutiny appeared to have meant something to her.

    Of course, the opposition here will say that all this is driven by the lack of time, as if the Conservative Party had not had four and a half years to deliver a deal that we were told would be the easiest ever struck, or the Prime Minister will be threatening us with the consequences if the future relationship Bill is not enacted before tomorrow evening. But all of that is simply wrong. The EU is bringing the treaty into provisional application, and the European Parliament will have several weeks to understand the implications of a text that is about the same length as the Bible. Why are we not able to do the same? How has taking back control collapsed so quickly into having no parliamentary control at all?

    Llywydd, this Senedd should refuse to play along with this pretence of scrutiny. The first time the Welsh Government saw even one clause of the treaty was on Christmas Day. The Bill itself, to which we have been asked to give consent, has been with us for one working day, and that under strict embargo. It is plainly impossible for anyone in this Senedd to have a clear understanding of the ways in which this Bill will affect our competence. When we tabled the motion for debate today, Llywydd, we could not refer to the Bill because it had not been introduced and was not in the public domain. And if we had put the debate off until tomorrow, it would have been after the Bill had been enacted. This is not how a democracy should work. And let me be clear that, in these circumstances, this Government will not bring a motion seeking either to give or refuse consent in such circumstances.

    Now, the amendment laid to the debate from the Conservative Party in Wales invites us to provide legislative consent to a Bill that they cannot possibly have considered. We will oppose that amendment, and the amendment in the name of Caroline Jones, which seeks simply to refight battles that that amendment itself says should be put behind us. We cannot support the third amendment, from Plaid Cymru, which fails to recognise that a deal is better than no deal for the reasons that I have already set out. The Government will abstain on the fourth and final amendment on the order paper today, Llywydd. The Welsh Government does not support the deal, but nor do we believe that it is for the Senedd to instruct MPs as to how they should vote any more than Members of the Senedd would be prepared to take instructions from parties at Westminster.

    Llywydd, all this brings me to my third point. Just why is it that the UK Government has not given more time to Parliament and to the other UK legislatures to scrutinise this treaty? The answer is simple: the UK Government wants to get the Bill on the statute book before all the details of this deal have had time to emerge. But we know here that businesses will have a treaty that will make trade with our largest and most important market more expensive and more difficult—the loss of contracts because of new rules of origin arrangements; the cost in time and money of export health certificates and sanitary and phytosanitary checks for agriculture and food exports; the end of the mutual recognition of professional qualifications; the failure to include access to the single market for UK services, meaning businesses will have to rely on 27 different sets of national rules to trade across the EU where they have only one today. This is a bad deal for business and for business here in Wales.

    And for our fellow citizens, what will this deal mean? Queuing at airports, visas for longer stays and the elimination of the freedom to live and work anywhere across the continent of Europe, mobile phones where calls cost far more or may not work at all, fewer people from the European Union able to work in our health and social care system looking after people here in Wales who need their help. And for our young people in particular, Llywydd, the cultural vandalism of cutting them off from the Erasmus+ programme, the largest international exchange programme in history, which people from Wales have done so much to shape and foster. Instead, we will be offered an English system, because, let’s be clear, that is what is now proposed: a scheme made in Westminster and administered in Whitehall, with all the responsibilities that this Senedd holds for further and higher education in Wales not simply sidelined, but written out of the script altogether.

    Llywydd, unlike other parties here in this Chamber, the Welsh Government has always argued that a deal was preferable to no deal. Even this thin and disappointing treaty, so different from what was promised, is better than the bitterness and the chaos that would have followed no deal at all. This Government will now redouble our efforts to work with businesses in all parts of our country to limit the damage that this deal continues to inflict, to work with our public services to limit the damage done to Welsh citizens, young and old, and to work with our friends and our partners in the European Union to reaffirm this Welsh nation’s determination to go on being outward looking, international in perspective, and welcoming to the rest of the world.

  • Ruth Davidson – 2021 Speech on Covid-19

    Ruth Davidson – 2021 Speech on Covid-19

    The speech made by Ruth Davidson, the Conservative MSP for Edinburgh Central, in the Scottish Parliament on 4 January 2021.

    First, I offer my condolences and those of my party on the news of the passing of Kay Ullrich, who was respected by members across the chamber.

    I, too, am grateful to you, Presiding Officer, for recalling Parliament for today’s statement.

    Nobody wants to live under restrictions for a moment longer than is absolutely necessary or wants those restrictions to be any tighter than needed. However, the increase in infection rate and the transmissibility of the new variant give grave cause for concern. We have come too far to throw all our efforts away, and the roll-out of the vaccine means that we can see a time, soon, when all this will begin to be over.

    That said, this is hard news at a hard time, when the resilience of people across the country has already been worn down over the past year. Many will be dismayed by today’s news, not least the parents of school pupils, who now have to rip up their childcare plans, negotiate with their employers and worry about their children’s fractured education.

    The Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland has expressed concerns that closing schools poses

    “a serious risk of harm to the wellbeing of children and young people”.

    He has warned that

    “support for online learning is being provided inconsistently”

    across Scotland and that

    “there is not enough national guidance and support for schools”

    from Government ministers, which threatens a further widening of the attainment gap. What further steps is the Scottish Government taking to address those concerns and to ensure that Scottish pupils continue to get equal access to high-quality education?

    The First Minister:

    I agree that it will be very hard for everybody across Scotland to hear this news today and to contemplate the reality of it over the next few weeks. I reiterate to people that we do not take these decisions lightly. We agonise over them, and we announce such restrictions only if we really feel that there is no alternative. Right now, the only alternative is greater loss of life and the potential for our national health service to be overwhelmed. At this point in time, speed of action is the most important factor of all.

    The decision over which we agonised most was that on the further closure of schools for the majority of pupils. The issue of schools, closed or open, has been contentious in recent weeks, and teachers and others have understandably raised concerns. However, I hope that people see from the responses and actions of the Government that we have striven, and will continue to strive, to keep schools open as normally, as often and for as long as possible. We deem today’s decision to be necessary, for the reasons that I have set out.

    I will ensure that the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills sets out for MSPs over the next couple of days the steps that are being taken to ensure that the provision of online education is as parents want it to be and that local authorities are working to ensure that it is of a consistent quality across the country. As I indicated in my opening remarks, we have already taken steps to ensure that more young people have access to digital devices, in order to make online learning more accessible to them.

    Schools and local authorities already have contingency plans in place. Advice for parents is available via the Parent Club website. Parents can also speak direct to schools for more advice. Glow, which is the national online learning platform, has seen a huge increase in users and usage since earlier last year, and we are working actively with local and national partners to enhance the online and remote learning options for pupils. That work will continue over the course of next week and for as long as is necessary.

    I end my answer by reiterating that we want the measures to be in place for as short a period as necessary, for all the reasons that I think everybody understands and agrees with.

    Ruth Davidson:

    Today’s announcement underscores the need to have a comprehensive test and trace system in place. In August, the First Minister promised that, between the UK Government Lighthouse laboratories and NHS Scotland facilities, we would have the capacity for 65,000 tests per day. However, the highest number of tests that were carried out in a single day was 30,619, on Christmas day. Currently, one third of tests are carried out by NHS Scotland, and the majority by the Lighthouse labs. She also promised that the three regional hubs for testing would have opened by the end of December but, so far, only two have done so.

    The test positivity rate over the past seven days is now the highest that it has ever been since the Scottish Government started publishing that data in August. Is there capacity in Scotland to carry out 65,000 tests per day? If there is, why is the number of tests that are carried out on any day well below half of that capacity? When will the Edinburgh regional hub be open for testing?

    The First Minister:

    Yes, there is capacity for 65,000 tests per day. That target, which we set earlier in the year, was met by Christmas. However, the number of tests that are actually carried out on any given day is largely demand driven, because it depends on the number of people with symptoms who come forward for testing. We have seen, and I think that we will continue to see, that number rise as, unfortunately, the faster-spreading strain of the virus infects more people. However, the numbers for capacity and the demand for testing will often not be exactly the same, for obvious reasons.

    Although some aspects of testing of asymptomatic people are not done through the PCR testing that goes through the laboratory network—they are now increasingly done through lateral flow testing, the results of which do not appear in these numbers—other aspects of it are done in that way. For example, we are well through the process of transferring testing of care home staff from the Lighthouse lab network to the NHS Scotland lab network.

    We have a well-functioning test and protect system, which continues to be a really important part of our response to the virus. However, because the virus is now spreading faster, we must have a range of different responses in order to complement that system. As far as interventions are concerned, just as the test and protect system has been important, the vaccine programme will become increasingly important over the next period.

    I understand that there has been a last-minute—or, I should say, late-stage—issue with a sprinkler system in the Edinburgh regional lab. That is in the process of being rectified, and the lab is due to open shortly.

    Ruth Davidson:

    Today’s announcement of further restrictions is particularly difficult to take when in recent weeks we have had such positive news of vaccines being approved and being bought in such large quantities by the UK Government. In her statement, the First Minister said that we are in a race between the vaccine and the virus. It will be impossible to know whether we are winning that race at any given time if we show only the daily infection figures without the daily vaccination figures. Members of the public need more information on precisely how the roll-out is going, both nationally and in their areas, as well as on when they will receive their doses. Also, last week, the health secretary said that those aged over 80 will be invited by letter to attend for vaccination.

    Will the First Minister commit today to publishing not just the national vaccination figures but the numbers of people who have been vaccinated, broken down by health board, so that people can see the progress that has been made in their communities? Can she tell us now when everyone in the over-80 cohort will receive letters with details of their vaccination appointments?

    The First Minister:

    When Parliament was recalled last week, I said—I think in response to a question from a Labour member—that we intend to break down into categories the numbers of people who have been vaccinated, which we currently publish weekly. I hope that we could also do so by region and by health board. I will consider whether there is potential to have greater frequency of publication. I am simply mindful of not putting too many burdens of data collection and publication on the people whom we are expecting to undertake that huge logistical challenge, so it might be that weekly publication will remain the best balance, together with a greater breakdown of statistics.

    It is not that long since the vaccines were approved. In particular, the Oxford-AstraZeneca one is still at an early stage. However, we have already vaccinated more than 100,000 people. At this stage, a small percentage of our population has been vaccinated; the level in Scotland is slightly higher than those in the other UK nations. However, we must continue to focus on accelerating the process as much as possible. As I said earlier, at the moment that is largely constrained by supply. We know what we expect to receive for January, which I hope is a conservative estimate. We are not yet clear on what supplies we can expect beyond that.

    As for the call for priority for the over-80 population, vaccination of those people will start shortly and will be an on-going process. We have been recalculating our modelling for the speed and timescale of vaccination as a result of the change in the chief medical officer’s advice on giving the second dose of the vaccine up to 12 weeks after the first dose, rather than three weeks after it. That will allow us to get the first dose of vaccine to more people much more quickly. We are ensuring that we take full advantage of that, just as we are taking full advantage of the supplies of the vaccine as we get them.

    Ruth Davidson:

    Today’s announcement raises immediate practical questions, and one of the primary ones concerns the legal requirement for people to work from home where they can. That raises all sorts of issues, including who is a key worker and what constitutes essential labour in a workplace outside the home. Who should make such decisions, and what is the process for arbitration in the event of a dispute between a workplace and a local authority or between a boss and an employee? In the first lockdown, we saw different interpretations being used by different local authorities, and different services being provided depending on category. People need to know what the new rules are, how they will apply to them and what recourse will exist where there is conflict. Will the First Minister therefore provide clarity on those important points?

    The First Minister:

    We will set out more guidance on those points. On the issue of key workers in the education context, local authorities have specifically asked for some flexibility in that regard, which I think it is important to afford them.

    There is a balance to be struck. In terms of business, we are not, as of now, in quite as restrictive a position as we were back in March—when non-essential work in construction and manufacturing, for example, was closed—but we need to keep that under review. We need to look at not only the spread of the virus but the really important relationship, which I understand, between people’s ability to work—or rather, the requirement on them to work—and their ability to look after their children and take part in online learning for those children at home.

    The Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Culture will have discussions as early as this afternoon with business organisations, and discussions with trade unions, to ensure that we help people—just as we did back in March—to navigate their way through what I recognise is a difficult situation. However, the message to businesses is that we are again asking them to scrutinise their operations rigorously, as they did in March, and assure themselves that the people whom they are requiring to be at work are genuinely only those who cannot do their job at home. There is a need to ensure that as many people as possible who can work from home are supported to do so.

  • Wes Streeting – 2021 Comments on the Digital Divide

    Wes Streeting – 2021 Comments on the Digital Divide

    The comments made by Wes Streeting, the Shadow Schools Minister, on 6 January 2021.

    The Government has had nine months since the start of the pandemic to tackle the digital divide in children’s learning, yet thousands of pupils are still unable to access online education.

    If Ministers do not urgently adopt Labour’s proposals, the digital divide in access to education risks failing a generation.

  • Keir Starmer – 2021 Response to Prime Minister’s Lockdown Statement

    Keir Starmer – 2021 Response to Prime Minister’s Lockdown Statement

    The speech made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, on 6 January 2021.

    Can I thank the Prime Minister for advance sight of his statement and for his telephone call on Monday to update me.

    Can I also thank him for his kind words about the Hon Member for Cardiff Central. She is still in hospital but I’m happy to say she is now improving.

    I also want to thank everyone in our NHS and on the frontline for all the work they are doing at the moment in the most stressful of circumstances.

    The situation we face is clearly very serious.

    Perhaps the darkest moment of the pandemic.

    The virus is out of control.

    Over a million people in England now have Covid.

    The number of hospital admissions is rising.

    Tragically, so are the numbers of people dying.

    It’s only the early days of January and the NHS is under huge strain.

    In those circumstances tougher restrictions are necessary.

    We will support them.

    We will vote for them.

    And urge everybody to comply with the new rules.

    Stay at home.

    Protect the NHS.

    Save lives.

    But this is not just bad luck.

    It’s not inevitable.

    It follows a pattern.

    In the first wave of the pandemic, the government was repeatedly too slow to act.

    And we ended 2020, with one of the highest death tolls in Europe.

    And the worst economic hit of any major economy.

    In the early summer, a government report called ‘Preparing for a Challenging Winter’ warned of the risk of a second wave of the virus mutating, and the NHS being overwhelmed.

    It also set out the preparations the government needed to take.

    I put that report to the Prime Minister in PMQs in July.

    Throughout the autumn, track and trace didn’t work.

    In September, Sage advised a circuit break.

    But the Prime Minister delayed for weeks before acting.

    We had a tier system that didn’t work.

    Then we had the debacle of the delayed decision to change the rules on mixing at Christmas.

    The most recent advice about the situation we are now in was given on 22 December.

    But no action was taken for two weeks.

    These are the decisions that have led us to the position we are now in.

    The vaccine is the only way out now.

    And we all must support the national effort to get it rolled out as quickly as possible.

    We will do whatever we can to support the government on this.

    We were the first country to get the vaccine.

    Let’s be the first to get the country to roll-out a vaccine programme too.

    But we need a plan to work to.

    The Prime Minister’s given some indication in the last few days, but can he tell the House exactly what the plan is?

    Can the NHS deliver 2m vaccines a week?

    I think they can, I hope they can, but have they been given the support and resource to do so? And we will support that, of course.

    Will there be sufficient doses available, week-on-week, to get us to 14m doses by mid-February?

    What can we do to help and it’s vital that that happens.

    I’m glad to hear that community pharmacies will be helping – can we use volunteers in support of this national effort?

    Let me turn to financial support.

    Yesterday’s announcement will help.

    But the British Chamber of Commerce – and others – have already warned it’s not enough.

    There are big gaps and big questions.

    First, why is there still nothing to help the three million self-employed who have been excluded from the very start?

    That was unfair in March, even more unfair in the autumn, it’s totally unforgivable now.

    It may well be a whole year that group have gone without any meaningful support.

    That gap needs to be plugged.

    Secondly, will the Prime Minister drop his plan to cut Universal Credit by £20 a week?

    That needs to be done now. And we will support it.

    Will he immediately extend the eviction ban – which is due to run out in just 5 days’ time, just as we’re going in to this new phase?

    Third, will he address the obvious issues with financial support for those required to isolate – including Statutory Sick Pay and support for local councils?

    And will the Prime Minister finally recognise that now is the worst possible time to freeze pay for our key workers?

    On schools, we all recognise the huge damage that closing schools will cause for many children and families.

    But the Prime Minister knew that closures might be necessary, so there should always have been a contingency plan.

    Up to 1.8 million children don’t have access to a home computer and 900,000 children live in households that rely on mobile internet connection.

    So can the Prime Minister tell us, when is the Government going to get the laptops to all those that need them?

    He’s spoken about the 50,000 delivered and the 100,000 more but 1.8 million children do have access to a home computer so there’s real urgency now as we go into these weeks.

    I welcome what the Prime Minister said about telecoms companies cutting the costs of online learning. It’s vital that they do so, I’m assuming that’s happening straight away because we can’t delay there.

    And will the Prime Minister be straight about what’s going happen with exams this year?

    We cannot leave this to months down the line.

    In particular and very pressing now, for those who were meant to be taking BTEC exams in the next few days.

    Surely they must just be cancelled. Some leadership on this is desperately needed.

    Next, our borders.

    The Prime Minister knows there is real concern about the rapid transmission of this disease and that new strains are being detected in South Africa, Denmark and elsewhere.

    The quarantine system isn’t working.

    And the Prime Minister said yesterday that: ‘we will be bringing in extra measures’ at the border.

    I have to ask, why have those measures not been introduced already?

    This has been briefed to the media for days, but nothing has happened.

    Mr Speaker, this is the third time the country has been asked to close its doors.

    We need to make sure it is the last.

    We will support the Prime Minister and the Government in these measures.

    We will carry the message and do whatever is asked of us, but we will demand that the Prime Minister keeps his side of the bargain and use this latest lockdown to:

    Support families
    Protect businesses
    And to get the vaccine rolled out as quick and safely as possible.

    Thank you.

  • Jim McMahon – 2021 Comments on Rail Cuts

    Jim McMahon – 2021 Comments on Rail Cuts

    The comments made by Jim McMahon, the Shadow Transport Secretary, on 5 January 2021.

    The Government must ensure that transport services are being run in such a way that the essential workers using them, as well as staff, are kept safe.

    The bailout of the rail industry is expected to exceed £9bn and ministers cannot continue to shift the financial burden onto the taxpayer while guaranteeing private companies’ profits.

    The Government needs to come up with a long-term plan to ensure the industry can recover, while providing value for money for those who rely on it.

  • Toby Perkins – 2021 Comments on BTEC Exams

    Toby Perkins – 2021 Comments on BTEC Exams

    The comments made by Toby Perkins, the Shadow Minister for Apprenticeships and Lifelong Learning, on 5 January 2021.

    BTEC exams simply cannot go ahead safely and fairly this week. The government must cancel them and work with schools and colleges to develop a genuinely fair alternative for pupils this summer.

    When the Prime Minister announced the cancellation of summer GCSE and A-level exams, he did not even mention BTEC students taking exams this week.

    Once again BTEC students who have missed out on lots of core practical teaching this year are an afterthought for this government.

  • Matt Hancock – 2021 Comments on the Appointment of Natalie Forrest

    Matt Hancock – 2021 Comments on the Appointment of Natalie Forrest

    The comments made by Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on 5 January 2021.

    I’m delighted to appoint Natalie into this role. She not only brings unrivalled experience in health management and nursing, but also the construction and project management knowledge that helped turn the Excel conference centre into a Nightingale Hospital in just 9 days, as well as overseeing the rebuild of Chase Farm Hospital at pace.

    The New Hospital Programme – as part of our Health Infrastructure Plan – will transform the delivery of NHS healthcare infrastructure to build back better and will ensure our country has world-class healthcare facilities right across the country for decades to come.

  • Gareth Snell – 2021 Comments on Digital Exclusion

    Gareth Snell – 2021 Comments on Digital Exclusion

    The comments made by Gareth Snell, the former Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central on 5 January 2021.

    I sincerely believe the Government simply doesn’t know the level of digital exclusion that exists in some parts of the U.K. Simply saying ‘switch to remote learning’ doesn’t address access to laptops, the internet or at home ICT literacy to support that learning.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2021 Comments on Early Years Staying Open

    Tulip Siddiq – 2021 Comments on Early Years Staying Open

    The comments made by Tulip Siddiq, the Shadow Minister for Children and Early Years, on 5 January 2021.

    Early years settings can stay open during the lockdown, but the Government’s change to their funding from this month has pushed 20,000 providers to the brink of collapse.

    The new lockdown is likely to wipe out demand for childcare, hitting providers’ incomes even further and pushing many nurseries and child-minding businesses over the edge.

    The Government urgently needs to rethink this funding change and give the sector the targeted support it needs. Early years staff and families of young children also need reassurances about safety at a very worrying time.

  • Rishi Sunak – 2021 Comments on Helping the Hospitality Industry

    Rishi Sunak – 2021 Comments on Helping the Hospitality Industry

    The comments made by Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 5 January 2021.

    The new strain of the virus presents us all with a huge challenge – and whilst the vaccine is being rolled out, we have needed to tighten restrictions further.

    Throughout the pandemic we’ve taken swift action to protect lives and livelihoods and today we’re announcing a further cash injection to support businesses and jobs until the Spring.

    This will help businesses to get through the months ahead – and crucially it will help sustain jobs, so workers can be ready to return when they are able to reopen.