Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 2:36 pm on 15 May 2024.
Janet Finch-Saunders
Conservative
2:36,
15 May 2024
That was not an answer to the questions I raised with you. Referring to the case against Mr Neal, NRW said:
'The outcome of this case shows that companies and individuals who seek to exploit the regulatory framework...will not be tolerated by Natural Resources Wales.'
NRW has actually drawn a clear red line that they do not tolerate those who seek to exploit regulations that protect the public and our environment. However, as reported in March, the First Minister shockingly asked NRW, allegedly, to ease restrictions on one of Mr Neal's companies, Atlantic Recycling. If only it ended there. The First Minister then accepted £100,000 in December 2023, £100,000 in January 2024. Shockingly, this coincided with Mr Neal pleading guilty to another offence in January—not once, not twice, but three times a charm. This absolutely stinks. Jeremy Miles MS and Mick Antoniw MS have both said that they would not have accepted this money.
Do you, Cabinet Secretary, not believe that the First Minister has crossed his own red line and that he's undermined his Welsh Government by not only tolerating, but supporting an individual and companies that have fundamentally undermined our environment, and have caused misery to so many people?
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
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War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
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