Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:56 pm on 28 June 2016.
The leader of UKIP is an optimist. He says there are advantages here: it is not immediately obvious, I have to say, what the advantages are. We are in a period of uncertainty, and uncertainty is bad. Fifty per cent of what we export from Wales goes into the European Union, and so the nature of the deal that we have with that market will be absolutely crucial to our future well-being. And until we know what that deal looks like, it’s very difficult to understand what challenges, possibly opportunities, will be there for Welsh businesses. But I know, because businesses are saying to me, that they are holding back on investment now until they get that certainty. One way or another—and it’s been decided one way or another—there must be certainty, and I do not think that waiting many months to begin the formal negotiation process—for years before there’s a final decision—is in the interests of business. The decision’s been taken; it must be taken forward now as quickly as is reasonably practicable, and there has to be a deal on the table that should, to my mind, be ratified with all four national Parliaments at least. That will be a complex and difficult process, but, bluntly, the need for certainty for our businesses is absolutely paramount; they will not invest until they have an idea of what the end game looks like, and we’re a long way from that.