Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:52 pm on 28 June 2016.
The First Minister, I’m sure, will agree with me that this now offers great opportunities for Wales. I appreciate that he concentrated upon the risks and the uncertainties before the referendum campaign, but now that we have the great opportunities that freedom of action gives us, we must capitalise on them and sell Wales in the wider world on that basis. It also offers us—and here I associate myself with what we’ve just heard from the leader of Plaid Cymru—further opportunities for the devolution of power. In particular, we will now have the opportunity to take control of our policy on agriculture, which means that we can then tailor to our own needs a policy to suit farmers in Wales, rather than have to compromise their interests on account of the interests of farmers in 27 other countries in the EU. So, again, I reiterate my request to the First Minister to involve the other parties—other than those that are in the various compacts that have been agreed—in these very important discussions, which will take place over the course of the next two years, to make sure that we get the best possible deal for Wales and the Welsh people out of this process.