Carwyn Jones: It’s making good progress, developing the proposals that will unlock Government funding.
Carwyn Jones: These are issues ultimately, as I say, for local authorities, but I’m confident that the governance structure that they have in place is appropriate and effective, and we will work with them, as will the UK Government, to continue to deliver the city deal. I have to say what will be immensely important in terms of delivery for Swansea will be the delivery of the Swansea bay tidal lagoon....
Carwyn Jones: It’s vital, because we know, of course, that if energy is created in the sea, we have to have places where we can produce the machinery and to ensure that the machinery is also maintained. And, of course, there are opportunities for ports such as Port Talbot, to create jobs and to rebuild some parts of the docks there. But we don’t have any answer from the United Kingdom Government,...
Carwyn Jones: Llywydd, yesterday of course we celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the ‘yes’ vote that brought devolution to Wales. It was an opportunity to look back and reflect on how far we have come since the days of the Welsh Office, a time when Wales was just another Government department. It is also an opportunity to look forward to the next 20 years.
Carwyn Jones: The establishment of this Assembly and, of course, the establishment of this Government, has been a journey of political maturity and also a story of growing confidence and a firm determination on all sides of this Chamber to deliver for Wales. The next stage of that journey is marked today by the publication of the national strategy designed to bring together the efforts of the whole public...
Carwyn Jones: I thank the leader of the opposition for his comments. I suppose the question he didn’t ask, which I’m sure will be asked, is, ‘What is the point of this document?’, which I understand. Well, he is right to say that the document itself will of course be fleshed out. The point of this document is it provides Members of this Assembly and the public with the framework within which...
Carwyn Jones: Well, let me try to assist the Member in his confusion and lift him from his despair. First of all, I thank him for his acknowledgement of the consistency that exists between the two documents that he’s referred to. They’re meant to be consistent. They’re meant to illustrate a common direction. Now, the first thing that he referred to was, he described, appallingly poor economic...
Carwyn Jones: Let’s try and deconstruct a stream of consciousness. Well, let’s start with the industrial change that he said occurred, under his watch, actually, a lot of it. In a sensible country it would have been understood that there were going to be job losses in coal and steel. Steel employed a lot of people, probably more than was needed. But in a sensible country, plans would have been laid out...
Carwyn Jones: First of all, the Member’s absolutely right to say that we do encourage that kind of thinking. As he knows, we’ve discussed many times how important it is to be able to harness new ideas from outside Government, and I very much welcome the comments that he made. He asked me a direct question and the answer is ‘yes’. We want to consider all potential structures in terms of running care...
Carwyn Jones: The Member’s absolutely right. The big change, I think, that’s occurred in the past few years is the rapidity of change. It wouldn’t have been difficult to predict in the 1970s that coal—particularly coal—was on a trajectory downwards. I mean, no-one could have predicted the sudden job losses that occurred, but that had been the trend since 1914. What we see now is a rapidity in...
Carwyn Jones: A number of questions there, and specific actions, particularly, were asked about. First things first: the economic action plan will be published during the course of the autumn and that will be available for Members to see. The UK Government’s industrial strategy is unclear. It’s not the most detailed strategy. We look forward to seeing that develop over time. The big question that’s...
Carwyn Jones: First of all, the issue of where growth hubs can be in the northern part of the Valleys is a matter that’s being considered by the Valleys taskforce. So, that is not lost; it’s something that’s still in development. We understand the importance of being able to look at growth hubs, especially around the Heads of the Valleys road, which we know has been hugely important to unlocking...
Carwyn Jones: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. I would like to update Members on matters relating to the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill, and in particular, the set of amendments that the Welsh Government and Scottish Government jointly published this morning.
Carwyn Jones: Members will be aware of our legislative consent memorandum that was published last week. That memorandum sets out in detail those aspects of the Bill that require the Assembly’s consent, and describes very clearly why we don’t accept the Bill in its current form. I don’t propose to rehearse those arguments in detail again. Rather, I’d like to focus on the constructive solution, which...
Carwyn Jones: A number of issues there. Can I thank the Member for putting forward a view that is different to the view that we’ve heard from his party in Westminster? The Scottish Conservatives said the same thing, actually, in their debate, and I think that is an important development in terms of the way this is seen in this Chamber. The key principle here is that we believe that the way forward is...
Carwyn Jones: Yes.
Carwyn Jones: It’s a statement, isn’t it?
Carwyn Jones: [Interruption.] Discuss. Discuss. So, it’s hugely important that we have that level of engagement from the UK Government. We have not yet had a Joint Ministerial Committee plenary. It’s right to say that other JMCs are planned, but, on this most important issue, nothing—no agreement to a meeting, even. Now that, clearly, is not helpful as far as the future is concerned, particularly as...
Carwyn Jones: First of all, we’ve been working with the Scottish Government now for many months, and that work has resulted in the amendments we’ve seen today. Also, of course, we’ve talked to Governments such as Gibraltar, who are in a slightly different position in the sense that they are in the EU but outside of the customs union, but, nevertheless, very concerned about Brexit and what it might...
Carwyn Jones: Well, I cannot surely be blamed for the UK joining the European Community in 1972, given that I was five years old, in the same way as I was asked which way I’d voted in the 1979 referendum. Clearly, I need to look a little younger, because I was only 12. Nevertheless, we have to remember that the UK joined the EEC because it was desperate to do so. But that is perhaps for another day. This...
