<p>Membership of the European Union</p>

Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:54 pm on 8 June 2016.

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Photo of Carwyn Jones Carwyn Jones Labour 1:54, 8 June 2016

Well, I do know that the economists who back Brexit tend to be, shall we say, minimalists when it comes to the protection of workers’ rights. Arch-Thatcherites from the 1980s are indeed people who don’t believe that manufacturing is important. That is what I have heard from Professor Minford, for example. That’s what he’s insinuated. The reality is this: I go abroad and when I bring investment into Wales—and we’ve been successful in doing that—the main question they ask is about EU membership. They are not interested in coming to Wales. They are not interested in coming to the UK. They are interested in accessing the market of 500 million. If we can’t offer that access, that investment won’t come. It’s said that this is our money. It’s not Welsh money. This is money that comes to Wales from Brussels that would go from Brussels to London instead. We can guarantee, because we know in this Chamber, that once you introduce that middle man, the middle man will take a cut. Wales benefits. It’s a net beneficiary, and that money would simply go to London, rather than come to Wales. At least with the situation we have now, it is right to say that that money comes to Wales, and it’s guaranteed that that money would not come to Wales in the future and the people of Wales would lose out.