@PoliticalWales I stood purely on an environmental ticket, I’m assuming long before you were born.
The political ecosystem has changed significantly since 1992, my politics not so much!
Labour and Plaid are the greatest recruiting sergeants for the devo-sceptic position.
Sadly, outsiders see bizarre Orwellian censorship of its Members and view the Senedd as a daft Wendy House Parliament.
I want to see a grown-up Parliament that upholds freedom of expression.
Senedd ruling doesn't even dispute the accuracy of Joe Martin’s comments because they were plainly correct.
Yet they still barred an MS from speaking until they recant the platform they were elected on.
Consequently, I'm proud to boycott plenary with all other Reform MSs.
Every Reform MS has boycotted the Senedd Plenary in support of Reform MS Joe Martin being banned from speaking.
Absolutely respect them for doing so. Free speech is vital for a healthy debate about changing demographics.
Joe is elected to speak for his voters. Let him speak!
🚨 A Reform Member of the Senedd has been barred from speaking in the Welsh Parliament after asking the Welsh Government for a statement on what he called the “demographic replacement of white British people”.
Joe Martin said mass immigration and differing birth rates meant white British people would become “a minority in our own country” by 2063.
The Senedd’s presiding officer said Mr Martin’s contribution was “unnecessarily provocative and deliberately offensive”, and that its focus on race and ethnicity was discriminatory and undermined the dignity of the Senedd. The officer said @joemartin1066 had previously been warned about his conduct and would not be called to speak until he showed he understood the rules and apologised.
This is a disgrace — and part of a wider problem in our politics. Democratically elected politicians are being silenced for raising legitimate concerns about mainstream issues such as migration.
People elected to represent us should be able to voice concerns on behalf of their constituents, however uncomfortable the subject.
This is an attack on free speech and democracy.
Read more below 👇
This video bears watching in its entirety. It is chilling. A Reform member of the Welsh parliament has been banned from speaking in the chamber until he apologises for a previous contribution in which he raised concerns about the pace and scale of demographic change taking place in the country.
Racially segregated poppy wreaths are the kind of unhinged & racist thing most thought we left behind in the cabin fever-induced insanity of 2020, but clearly not for Plaid
The red wreaths represent all who served in our Armed Forces, including BME and Commonwealth servicepeople
Black poppy wreaths were laid by several taxpayer funded organisations on the weekend at a Black and Minority Ethnic Remembrance Event organised by Race Council Cymru.
The event was addressed by the Deputy First Minister, Plaid Cymru’s Sioned Williams, who laid a wreath on behalf of the Welsh Government.
@IainCMcIntosh@CristianaEmsley Well said, Iain. 👏They find money for wasteful vanity projects abroad, but can’t commit to the fulsome Covid inquiry that they promised to the bereaved families.
Plaid Cymru want Welsh taxpayers to fund freebies for migrant families who've been barred from receiving benefits.
Welfare isn't even devolved, but it won't stop them.
They call themselves the Party of Wales, yet put everyone but Welsh people first.
You have paid for things you wouldn't believe...
Every week we hear of a new insane project we are paying for abroad, meanwhile there's no money for a Welsh grooming gang or Covid inquiry.
Reform's position is clear: Welsh money should be spent in Wales.
The Welsh Government has no respect for your money.
🗑️ £25k on disability-inclusive beekeeping in Ghana and Uganda.
🗑️ £19k on radio phone-ins so farmers in Wales and Uganda can chat about climate change.
🗑️ £21k on financial literacy for LGBTQI+ people in Uganda.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Meanwhile, our hospitals, our roads and our high streets are crying out for investment.
Reform's position is clear: Welsh money should be spent in Wales. End of.
https://t.co/jfCq68Ief9
The plastic straw ban is a good example of performative environmentalism. It was not led by evidence.
We changed our way of life in response to people feeling sad over a viral video of a turtle.
This is not how grown ups should legislate.
Reminder that the Welsh Government could be offered the moon on a stick and they wouldn't be happy.
Shutting down their overseas offices would save nearly £5 million a year.
Burnham launches tax raid on savers and landlords which the IFS warns will cause large rent rises.
An extra £450 million going to the Plaid Welsh Government.
@RUKWales will ensure this goes to the NHS and public services - not more schemes like Nation of Sanctuary.
🚨 SUMMARY: John Healey's first Budget
SUPPORT FOR BILLS:
- Eligible households in council tax bands A–D will receive a £100 cash payment from January to help with energy bills
- The cut to VAT on electricity bills will be extended until July 2027
- Gas standing charges will be abolished by the end of 2027 or soon after, with costs shifted to gas unit rates
- Targeted energy debt relief will be introduced to help households struggling with energy arrears
- Local authorities in England will receive an extra £100m to support households on benefits facing severe energy pressures
- Energy-intensive manufacturers will receive a 20–25% electricity discount from April 2027
- The 5p fuel duty cut will be extended until 1 July 2027
- The 3.7p-per-litre red diesel duty cut will be extended until 1 July 2027
- The HGV vehicle excise duty holiday will be extended until 1 July 2027
- £100m will be invested over two years to reduce the cost of local, lower-powered public EV chargers
TAX:
- Tax on savings income will rise by a further 2% from April
- Tax on property income will rise by a further 2% from April
- The tax on bank profits will rise from 3% to 6% from January 2027 to March 2028
- Machine Games Duty will rise from 20% to 25% on machines with stakes over £1 from April
- Business rates relief will be removed for vape shops and adult gaming centres from April
- Online marketplaces will have to collect VAT on sales by UK businesses making over £90,000 from October 2027
- Certain overseas businesses will have to account for UK VAT on services sold to UK businesses under tightened rules
- Certain UK property income and gains earned by foreign sovereign investors will become subject to UK tax following a consultation
- From April 2028, tax rules will change to stop shareholders from using certain methods to pay less tax on money taken out of their companies
- HMRC will gain new powers to seize lower-value unpaid tax directly from the bank accounts of people who can afford to pay but fail to do so
- The business rates threshold for retail, hospitality and leisure in England will rise from £12,000 to £18,000 - meaning 70,000 businesses will pay no business rates
- Alcohol duty will increase in line with inflation from February 2027, potentially increasing prices for beer, wine and spirits
- Small breweries and cider makers will receive £10 million a year in extra tax relief to help reduce their costs
- Rachel Reeves' plans to cut the annual cash ISA allowance have been scrapped - it will remain at £20,000 rather than falling to £12,000
- From April 2027, the amount of profit eligible for tax relief when selling a business will be reduced from £1 million to £500,000
- From April 2027, eligible business founders selling their businesses will pay just 10% Capital Gains Tax on up to £10 million in profits over their lifetime
WAGES, INCOME AND COST OF LIVING:
- Import tariffs will be temporarily removed on more than 100 food and drink products from 26 November 2026 until December 2028
- Tariffs on heating kerosene will be suspended until December 2028
- Tariffs on specified fertilisers will be suspended until December 2027
- The tax-free allowance for pensioners relying solely on the state pension will be increased to match the rise in the pension to £13,097
- The minimum wage will rise to £13.21 for over 21s, £11.27 for 18 to 20 year olds and £8.31 for under 18s and apprentices - all rises of 3.9%
- Eligible self-employed fathers, partners and adopters will gain access to parental pay from April 2029
- The tax-free mileage allowance for employees using their own cars for work will be made permanent: 55p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles and 35p (from 25p) per mile above that
- Carers earning over £204 a week after tax will no longer automatically lose their entire Carer’s Allowance; a tapered reduction will be introduced from 2029 instead (lose £1 for every extra £1 earned)
HOUSING:
- £4.7bn will fund the new Your First Home scheme to help around 70,000 households buy a home, with deposits as low as 2.5% and interest-free Government loans for the first five years, starting April 2027
- A new ISA for first-time buyers will launch in April 2029. You can save up to £4,000 a year, and for every £100 you save, the Government will add £25, up to £1,000 a year, to help you buy your first home costing up to £450,000
- From tomorrow, people with an existing Lifetime ISA will face a lower penalty when using their savings to buy a home costing over £450,000. The penalty will drop from 25% to 20%
- An extra £432m will be provided over 2027–28 and 2028–29 to help rough sleepers get off the streets
- An extra £1bn will go towards social and affordable housing in England, taking funding for the 10-year programme to more than £40bn
DEFENCE:
- A new target date of spending 3% of GDP on defence in 2030
- The £298 billion Defence Investment will be "fully funded" through "capital reprioritisation across Whitehall"
- £10bn in economic and military support for Ukraine
DEVOLUTION AND LOCAL INVESTMENT:
- Mayors in England will begin retaining 20% of business rates from April 2027 with the aim of allowing all business rates to be retained locally by 2030
- Mayors will receive a share of income tax receipts from April 2028
- The Government will work with mayors to develop a £1.5bn borrowing facility, expected to be available from 2028, to help fund larger local projects
OTHER:
- A new £15m fund will tackle misogyny in schools, workplaces and communities
Is it appropriate for modern politicians to invoke Nazi persecution of Jews in 1930s Germany to push their agenda?
In a Welsh Parliament debate on full-face coverings, Deputy First Minister Sioned Williams made reference to the Nuremberg Laws.
Ms Williams said “Jewish people of 1930s Germany were subject to the Nuremberg laws that stated they were no longer German, laws that led to their persecution and extermination by the state that stripped them of their German-ness, enabled by those who believed German-ness could not accommodate diversity.”
So, what were the Nuremberg Laws?
• Antisemitic statutes enacted by Nazi Germany to ostracise Jews and achieve an imagined racial purification of Aryan society.
• The Law for Protection of German Blood and German Honour prohibited marriages and extramarital intercourse between Jews and ethnic Germans, and forbade employment of German women under 45 years old in Jewish households.
• The Reich Citizenship law stripped Jews of their German citizenship and classed them as “enemies of the race-based state”.
• On 14th November 1935 a supplementary decree was passed defining who was Jewish.
They were implemented by the Nazi regime, who would go on to slaughter six million Jews in the Holocaust.
Using the horrendous persecution of Jews to score political points does nothing to improve the standard of debate or tackle hatred in society.
All politicians have a duty to speak responsibly, especially when antisemitism is rampant across Britain.
https://t.co/SB4sXFP2gE
Whether ultra-conservative Muslims wearing the niqab, or masked-up gangs of youths terrorising our communities, face coverings fuel our growing low-trust society and should not be tolerated.
It’s time to ban them.
UPDATE: A win for Reform UK.
Following concerns over alleged anti-Reform comments at Brecon High School, the council has confirmed they'll pursue it and remind all schools of their duty to uphold impartiality.
Schools should educate our children, not indoctrinate them.
This is outrageous. Reform MS @DavidMillsMS has written to the Director of Education over a teacher allegedly describing Reform UK as "bad" people who are "mean" to illegal migrants.
All teachers at Brecon High School should be politically impartial, not left-wing activists.