8. Will the First Minister outline the risks to the Welsh economy if the UK Government does not guarantee every penny of funding which the EU currently provides Wales? OAQ(5)0101(FM)

It would mean that £650 million per annum would be lost in terms of Government spending, including £260 million in farming subsidies.

Thank you, First Minister, for that answer. Since 2007, EU projects have created 11,900 enterprises and some 37,000 jobs. This EU funding has helped 72,700 people into work, helped more than 229,000 gain qualifications, and has funded 56,000 people into further learning since 2007. Under the current £1.8 billion EU-supported programmes, more than £700 million of EU structural funding has already been committed, and that is just 40 per cent of the total allocation for the 2014-20 period. So, can the First Minister state what actions the Welsh Government can take—and we’ve already heard earlier about R.T. Davies’s pledges and guarantees on this front—to ensure that the leavers’ pledge that Welsh funding will not be affected is kept, unlike the other broken promises that we’ve heard of putting an extra £350 million into the NHS? Thank you.

The difficulty is that those who’ve advocated some of these pledges have run away from them: throw a brick through the window and let other people pick up the pieces. I expect those people who made those pledges, and who may well be in Government in London in the next few months, to keep to those pledges. That was a vow that was made to the people of Wales and, indeed, in other countries and, indeed, regions of England. I cannot think of anything that would bring politics more into disrepute if politicians say on the one hand, ‘Every single penny will be guaranteed’, and then turn around and say, ‘We didn’t mean that’—‘We didn’t mean that’. That would mean a breach of the most fundamental pledge made to the people of Wales, and the people of Wales will hold those people to account.

And, finally, Rhun ap Iorwerth.

Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I’m pleased that the Government has given a commitment to develop a business plan on the dualling of the Britannia bridge. We’re expecting some developments there soon, I believe. But that is a project that we could have expected to have made a bid for European funding for, as a contribution towards its cost, because of the importance of the A55 as part of the European transport network. May I ask the First Minister what his view is on the possibility of losing that source of funding now, and will he give a commitment to put pressure on the UK Government, if that funding source is lost, to ensure that that funding is provided, perhaps as part of some Marshall plan for the Welsh economy, as we’ve mentioned as a party?

Well, the Marshall plan funding came from the United States, but I understand the point you’re making, and I’ve said it a number of times, namely that every penny lost should be made up by those who promised that that would be the case, that that would happen. We’ve heard from those who argued that we should leave the European Union: they said that there would be tons of money available. Well, let’s see where that money is for Wales, and ensure that the people of Wales can decide how that money is spent. But, of course, all we’ve heard is people withdrawing from that pledge or that vow. I am, as is he, of course, strongly of the view that we should fight for Wales and not fight against Wales, and that’s what we’ve heard in this Chamber from some people today.

Thank you, First Minister.