Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:20 pm on 24 January 2017.
Carwyn Jones
Labour
4:20,
24 January 2017
In terms of preferences given to EU citizens, if you look at medicine, for example, it’s the same regulatory environment, so people would be used to working in the UK environment, because they’re used to working in a common EU environment, so I suppose they would have an advantage in that sense. The fact that there’s common recognition of qualifications is important. Now, one of the issues amongst many that have to be resolved is: will there be that common recognition in the future? Will UK doctors be able to work in Europe? The others, of course, the small ones, the ones that appear small, that we have to look at, are things like: will you be able to drive abroad on a GB licence? Will you be able to drive abroad on GB car insurance? Will you be able to drive abroad and enjoy European health insurance card cover? And, if not, will your premiums go up? There’s a lot of yapping from behind on the UKIP benches, but that’s the way it used to be. That’s the way it used to be: you couldn’t drive outside the UK unless you had a different international driving licence. I remember it. Secondly, your car insurance didn’t cover you if you drove outside the UK: you had to ring up the insurance company to get the cover. Now, unless these things are sorted, we’ll just go back to that and these are things that they don’t even think about in terms of the detail.
But, anyway, in terms of the other issues that were raised by the Member, Suzy Davies, can I suggest that, before we seek consensus across this Chamber, she might want to seek consensus in her own party? Because I know that, within her party, there are widely different views as to what the future should hold. And here’s my challenge for the Conservatives: come together, have a consensus in your own party, and produce your own document. Then, once you’ve produced your own document, we can talk. At the moment, it’s like talking to several headless chickens all at once. We have no idea what your position is. We have some of you who are even beyond UKIP, others who are very much in favour, or would’ve been very much in favour, of EU membership. My challenge to you is: why don’t you actually get together and sort out your own problems and your own tensions, before complaining that you’re outside of the process? And then you’ll have a situation where you can be listened to better.
The other point is this: nobody—. One of the things that—[Interruption.] There was a man on the touchline in Bridgend years ago, and all he did in games was shout out, just once a game—‘Ydy buddy bar’, he said. No-one knew what he was saying; no-one knew what he was saying at all. He was a character; no-one knew what it meant, but everyone could hear him. That’s the leader of the Welsh Conservatives. No-one knows what he’s saying; all they can do is listen to the clanging of an empty vessel. I say to him again: there’s no point him sitting there, having a go at everybody else when he hasn’t got off his behind to produce a Brexit plan himself, drawing on the people he’s got in his own group. Then, we can start, perhaps, to take him seriously.
The other issue, of course, that we don’t see here or don’t listen to—hear, rather—from the Conservative benches is criticism of the content of the white paper itself. We’ve heard criticism of the process, but no-one has said—. Points have been made about migration, but, actually, what do you disagree with in the White Paper? What do you disagree with? Now, there’s a challenge: if you can come up, in the consultation on the White Paper, with areas where you disagree, then let’s hear it, rather than chuckling, shouting, and not actually contributing to the debate. So, my challenge to you is: yes, we’re more than happy to work with other parties, but it’s incumbent on other parties to work out what their own position actually is amongst themselves, rather than arguing amongst themselves, in order for them to present a united front in working with other parties. I’m afraid the Welsh Conservatives are nowhere near that at the moment.
A document issued by the Government laying out its policy, or proposed policy, on a topic of current concern.Although a white paper may occasion consultation as to the details of new legislation, it does signify a clear intention on the part of a government to pass new law. This is a contrast with green papers, which are issued less frequently, are more open-ended and may merely propose a strategy to be implemented in the details of other legislation.
More from wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_paper
The Conservatives are a centre-right political party in the UK, founded in the 1830s. They are also known as the Tory party.
With a lower-case ‘c’, ‘conservative’ is an adjective which implies a dislike of change, and a preference for traditional values.