Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:47 pm on 8 June 2016.
Thank you to the Cabinet Secretary. I suspect it’s unanimous that we are behind Wales as our team for this tournament, regardless of who some Members may have supported in the past. Nonetheless, many Members will be aware of well-publicised incidents of major retailers in Wales promoting the England football team in their stores and on their merchandise. Clearly, this is not ideal, especially when Wales will be playing England in the tournament. I must also pay tribute to Lindsay Whittle, Steffan Lewis’s predecessor, because, when he discovered that Panini were selling England sticker books in Tesco and not Wales sticker books, he was climbing the walls, and anyone who knows Lindsay Whittle can imagine that. [Laughter.]
Does the Cabinet Secretary plan to hold any conversations with major commercial retail organisations about the appropriateness of promoting the England football team in Wales during Euro 2016? Would he remind them to act more sensitively when it comes to their stores’ merchandise so that we can all get behind Wales and wish them well in the month ahead?