First Minister's Questions: As it happened on 6 June

1. Mark Drakeford takes questions from opposition leaders and other Senedd members.

Hwyl fawr

The seventeenth FMQs of 2023 comes to a close.

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The Senedd will once again be lit tonight in the blue and yellow colours of Ukraine’s flag as a sign of solidarity with Ukraine and its people.

Senedd Cymru

Safety on the A477

Conservative Samuel Kurtz calls on the Welsh government to improve safety on the A477 trunk road - which stretches from Pembroke Dock to St Clears and one of the main arteries in and out of west Wales - following a number of fatalities.

He says, "from speeding through Milton, a dangerous junction for the Red Roses-Llanddowror exit, or, most notably, the Nash fingerpost junction, the A477 needs a complete and thorough review. This junction in particular saw its third fatality, when my constituent, Ashley Rogers, tragically lost his life only three weeks ago."

The first minister replies, "I was very sad indeed to read of the accident in which a young man lost his life, and I know there's a family who will be grieving for him. It is because the Welsh government has been aware of the concerns raised, particularly about the Nash fingerpoint junction, that a report has already been undertaken by the Welsh government and the South Wales Trunk Road Agent, to investigate those near-misses and collisions that have been reported at the site.

"Because we have that report, then, in this financial year, we will begin to implement the recommendations of that report - recommendations that have short, medium and long-term measures included in them. We'll begin with the immediate ones - the signing, the road marking, the minor junction layout changes for visibility improvements, and action to prevent u-turn prohibitions at the junction.

"All of that comes as a result of the work that has already been carried out, and further larger-scale, longer-term options will also be investigated, once we see the impact of the immediate measures that we're able to take in this financial year, arising from the reports already assembled."

'Public bus transport emergency'

Carolyn Thomas, Labour MS for north Wales, expresses concern about "the impact of the current public bus transport emergency".

The first minister replies that the Welsh government "will play our part very actively, alongside Transport for Wales, industry partners, and the trade unions to mount a campaign to get people back onto buses because the best way of protecting services is to use them, and the biggest challenge we face in the bus industry is the fact that while costs have gone up by 25 per cent in recent times, patronage is still down by 15 per cent compared to pre-pandemic levels".

Welsh government

Poverty in Wales

In his second session of First Minister’s Questions as interim leader of Plaid Cymru, Llyr Gruffydd calls for action to reduce the number of people in poverty in Wales.

He says “we were all shaken" by the tragic events that unfolded in Ely last month.

He says child poverty, low-paid work or lack of employment are problems which require national solutions.

Mr Gruffydd adds that “the experiences of the past 13 years have conclusively underlined the need for the further devolution of powers over welfare here in Wales, in line with the powers already exercised by the Scottish Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly.”

The first minister says "as far as community resilience on the Ely estate itself is concerned, there are a series of measures in which the Welsh government has played its part in supporting those community groups that are such a feature of life on the estate".

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Riot police attended the scene of disorder in the district of Ely in Cardiff last month

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Llyr Gruffydd

Nursing strikes

Andrew RT Davies, leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd, refers to the fact that nurses across nearly all parts of Wales are on strike for 12 hours on Tuesday and Wednesday in an ongoing dispute over pay.

The industrial action means thousands of planned care appointments will be impacted.

Mr Davies says "it is critical that that dispute is resolved, and I've heard you say time and time again, first minister, that through negotiation that resolution will come. So I would urge and commend in the same breath that you get round the table to resolve this, because obviously, without that resolution with the Royal College of Nursing, it is going to be a protracted dispute, and ultimately to the detriment of patients and staff as well, if it is allowed to continue."

The first minister replies "it is disappointing that the RCN continue to pursue strike action in Wales when every other union representing the nursing workforce has agreed to accept the terms that were in such detail negotiated with them over a series of weeks. As the leader of the opposition has said, that package was accepted by the negotiating body that we have here in Wales. Of course, the Welsh government is always going to be open to further discussions."

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People are picketing across Wales including Bronglais Hospital, Aberystwyth

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Andrew RT Davies

Energy Bill

The first minister says the UK government's Energy Bill will have a "limited" impact in terms of its support for Welsh residents.

"Given the recent well-highlighted actions by agents acting on behalf of energy suppliers, substantive provision for consumer protection is a notable omission from this large and complex Bill. As such, its direct impact in supporting Welsh residents will be limited and disappointing," he says.

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Mark Drakeford

Leasehold and its effect on homeowners

The Llywydd conducts a ballot to determine the names of members who may table questions to the first minister and Welsh ministers. Each member may enter their name into a ballot.

Five of the first six tabled questions today are by Labour backbenchers.

Mike Hedges, MS for Swansea East, raises the issue of the use of leasehold and its effect on homeowners.

Unlike a freeholder who owns a property and the land it is built on outright, a leaseholder owns a lease which gives them the right to use the property.

They have to get permission to make changes to the home and sometimes must pay expensive ground rent.

Leaseholders can also be subject to expensive legal fees if they want to extend their lease.

Mr Hedges says "leaseholding is a feudal system that causes concerns to people who live in leasehold properties. Many of my constituents were incredibly upset, on the death of the Duke of Beaufort, when they got letters telling them that any minerals under their house or land was still the property of the successor to the Duke of Beaufort."

The first minister agrees with Mr Hedges that the leasehold system in England and Wales is "badly in need of reform".

Legislation is planned to be introduced by the UK government in the autumn, however it is not expected to include a ban - which the first minister says is "disappointing" - instead introducing protections for tenants from ground rents and legal fees.

It is also expected to bring forward reforms that will make the leasehold system less attractive, and lay the groundwork for a viable commonhold system.

A commonhold system would mean occupants jointly own and take responsibility for their buildings without an expiring lease.

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Lord John Morris

The Llywydd Elin Jones pays tribute to the former Cabinet minister and Welsh Labour MP Lord Morris of Aberavon, who has died at the age of 91.

She says "in his memoir, John Morris says that the two most prominent matters for him in his 60 years and more of public service were equality of opportunity for the individual and the creation of national institutions in Wales."

She thanked John Morris "for a lifetime of service to its people, to his language and to the nation".

"And it's on his shoulders this Cardi [someone from Cardiganshire] and all of us elected to the Senedd sit today.

"We send our deepest condolences to Margaret, his wife, his family and friends."

John Morris served in the cabinets of three Labour prime ministers - Harold Wilson, Jim Callaghan and Tony Blair.

A former Welsh secretary and attorney general, he became Wales' longest-serving MP after representing Aberavon for more than four decades, from 1959 to 2001.

First Minister Mark Drakeford says he had been the last surviving person elected as an MP in the 1950s and "the last person alive to have attended Harold Wilson's resignation dinner at Downing Street".

Mr Drakeford said Lord Morris had written to him from his hospital bed in the last few days "anxious as ever that a matter of concern to Wales should be probably scrutinised at the House of Lords".

"His support for Wales, and for devolution, was unstinting. My party has lost a direct link far back into the first half of the Labour century in Wales, our nation has lost one of its most faithful and effective voices.

"How proud he was that a Parliament now exists in Wales, and how fitting that we are able to pay our tributes to him in the Senedd today."

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Lord Morris

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Croeso

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the seventeenth session of First Minister's Questions in 2023.

The meeting is held in a hybrid format, with some members in the Siambr (Senedd chamber) and others joining by video-conference.

You can click on the play button above to watch the proceedings from 1.30pm.