Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:49 pm on 28 June 2016.
Well, the first thing we have to project is stability in Wales and reassurance for business. I’ve asked the Secretary to draw up a number of points that we can put to business to make sure they understand that we very much see Wales as open for business. That’s hugely important. In terms of what the future holds, I welcome what the Prime Minister said in terms of Wales being involved, but I know he can’t speak for the next Prime Minister, who might take a different view. Bearing that in mind, we will be establishing a specialist team in our Brussels office whose job it will be to talk and negotiate directly with the European Commission. It doesn’t have to be instead of working with the UK Government, but we need to make sure that Wales has a voice, and a strong voice. We can’t get away from the fact that Wales voted to leave, so there’s no question of trying to go behind the verdict of the electors, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t have to work hard to make sure that Wales gets the best deal possible. We’ve got to make sure that we do that. I would not trust some of the people who I’ve seen, if they’re in Government in London in September, to get the best deal for Wales, and that is crucial, and that’s what we intend to do.