We now move to the next item which is the statement by the First Minister around priorities for Government. I call on the First Minister, Carwyn Jones.

Diolch, Lywydd. I had hoped to be here today with a freshly pressed copy of the programme for government in my hand. However, it is not yet the time to do so because the Brexit referendum result has changed things fundamentally. There are many questions about the future to which we simply do not have the answers. The impact of Brexit on our own budgets and programmes will be very considerable. Our partners in the higher education and the private and third sectors will be greatly affected as they map out their futures. We all await a serious indication of the UK Government negotiating position towards Brexit and, crucially, confirmation from the UK Government that Wales will not lose out as a result of our EU exit.

Nothing would further intensify that sense of dislocation between people and the Governments that are here to serve them than me making promises today that I know the Government may struggle to deliver. I am therefore delaying publication of our programme for government until September, by which time we hope we will have a firmer indication on which to base a realistic assessment of our financial situation.

Llywydd, so much has changed since the May elections to this Assembly. For many of us, it has felt at times as if we are living in a parallel universe. The decision to leave the European Union is momentous and, as I have said, the real-world implications of the vote are still very far from clear—financially, socially, and for Wales’s place in the world. As a Government, we are utterly determined to get the best deal possible for Wales from the process ahead. There is a huge amount of work already under way to set firm foundations for delivery over the next five years. I am proud of the way we have weathered austerity over recent years and sheltered as best we could the services that people really rely on from the worst of the financial storm that has engulfed us. But there are still choppy waters ahead for our finances.

There are already worrying economic signs stemming from the EU vote that could have a serious knock-on effect on the public finances, and despite the cast-iron pledges of ‘leave’ campaigners, we still have no guarantees from the UK Government that the £600 million or so a year we receive in EU funding will continue to flow to Wales after the UK’s exit takes place—and I must tell you very candidly that, without this assurance, we face a very large hole in our future budgets. So, I call on the UK Government once again today to give the guarantee we need on every penny of that funding, which would give us a far clearer picture of what we will have to deliver in terms of what the people of Wales voted for in May. It’s time to make those promises a reality.

Llywydd, since the vote last month, the Secretary for the economy and I have been working closely with Welsh business and inward investors to give them as much reassurance as we possibly can. We have been listening closely to their concerns. Our ask of them is clear: keep your nerve, keep investing, remember all the things that make Wales a great place to do business and keep talking to us. Despite the circumstances, we hear many positive messages, and we hope to be able to make some significant new announcements very soon. I want to send a similar positive message back today based on what we’ve heard from businesses in recent weeks.

We know that infrastructure is critical when it comes to investment decisions, and so, despite the uncertainty over the significant element of EU funding, I’m confirming today that we will be pressing ahead with the development of the metro project, which has such transformational potential. It may not be in exactly the same form as before. We will have to look at alternative funding models and it may take longer to get to where we want to be, but I believe this is an important signal to employers that Wales is still open for business, eager to progress and that our offer to investors will only improve. My colleague the economy Secretary will say more later on this.

So, yes, there is uncertainty, but we will continue to lead and we will refuse to be gloomy. Chris Coleman was a great example to us all when he talked about daring to dream and being unafraid of the future. There will be no stone left unturned by me and this Government—and this whole Chamber, I suspect—in our ambition to deliver for Wales.

I want to look forward to the rest of this Assembly and set out the positive measures we are determined to implement over the next five years. The people of Wales elected this Government to make real improvements in their lives and we will deliver on this. We were elected on an ambitious programme with very clear priorities: to deliver more and better jobs through a stronger, fairer economy; to improve and reform our public services; and to build a united, connected and sustainable Wales.

Wales in the twenty-first century is diverse and complex, but the expectations of people are simple: healthy lives, good education, good jobs, strong communities and infrastructure that meets our needs. As a small country, we have strengths and opportunities that many others do not have. We have the opportunity to build a strong team approach and join up our programmes to reinforce and build on what people and communities are doing for themselves.

The future generations Act is a call to arms. It cannot make our decisions for us, but it can help us to work together to build the Wales that we want. I am clear that we don’t drive improvement by publishing strategies. We drive improvement through action and through strong leadership. I will be working with my Ministers over the autumn to develop four cross-cutting policies that will set the framework for how we deliver our priorities: a secure and prosperous Wales; a healthy and active Wales; an ambitious and learning Wales; and a united and connected Wales. No single Minister can deliver on those priorities, and I am setting us and our partners the challenge of working together to find innovative ways to make a change in all of these areas for the people of Wales. We will be working throughout the autumn to consider how we can have the greatest impact and how we can wrap services around people at the times and places where they need them.

Llywydd, as part of our compact to move Wales forward with Plaid Cymru, we have already set out our immediate priorities for the first 100 days in office. Although the 100 days falls at the end of August, we have hit the ground running and work is well advanced. We are developing plans in all of those areas I spelled out in May and also for those areas of common ground with Plaid Cymru. The Minister for Skills and Science has already made a statement on the immediate changes to apprenticeships to meet our commitment for 100,000 all-age apprenticeships. These will ensure that opportunities are not restricted by age and are widely available.

We have made a statement on our legislative priorities, again focusing on those areas that enjoy broad support across this Chamber, and using legislation only when it is clearly the best way to bring about change. Discussions are progressing on the establishment of a review into the long-term future for the NHS in Wales. We have established three liaison committees for constitution, finance and legislation. All of these committees have met and already they are showing the truth of my commitment to work openly with others and in acknowledgement of the wishes of the people of Wales.

Llywydd, this afternoon, the health Secretary will make further statements on the plans for a new treatment fund that will remove variability in access to innovative, new, high-cost drugs. The education Secretary will announce her plans for a self-improving education service this afternoon, which will encompass our commitment to increase investment in schools. These plans show how we will place health, jobs and schools at the heart of our plans for Government, and we will make announcements on the other commitments in due course. We are also, of course, pressing ahead with the programme agreed with the Liberal Democrats, under which Kirsty Williams became education Secretary. These will be reflected in the strategies that we will develop over the autumn. All of these priorities are a crystal clear indication that this is a Government open to the best ideas in Wales, wherever they come from, if they can make a real contribution to our goals.

Llywydd, I made clear my desire for this Government, and this Assembly, to be different. The election of committee chairs was an immediate and welcome move to openness, and it is in this spirit that I wish us to continue. This is a Government committed to working collaboratively and innovatively as the only way of meeting the ambitions of the people of Wales. Together we can build a Wales that is more confident, more equal, better skilled and more resilient. As a country, we’ve punched above our weight and now we are ready to do more. I want to see a Wales that is prosperous and secure, healthy and active, ambitious and learning, united and connected. This is the Wales we are determined to build over the coming five years.

The need for decisive leadership for Wales is of paramount importance. Not only does this include the overseeing of the national response to Brexit, but the internal governance of our country itself. It includes the need to draw up a programme for government and also the need to reassess spending priorities in the light of EU funding programmes potentially coming to an end in just over two years’ time. Plaid Cymru accepts the reasoning behind the delay of this programme for government.

First Minister, we’ve already seen from last night and from last week that there’s no clear line or chain of communication, let alone chain of command, between Labour’s Welsh Government and Labour’s Welsh MPs. So, my first question to you is: what are your Government’s priorities for the constitution? Co-operation has always been possible here in the Assembly, and we’ve obvious common ground on immediate powers that could be transferred from Westminster to Wales, but the weak spot for Wales as a nation is the attitude and behaviour of Labour’s Welsh MPs in Westminster. They are frustrating the Welsh Government’s programme and priorities. Will you therefore include as a priority for Government the need to establish some kind of leadership over Labour MPs in Westminster? Will you at the very least advise them to turn up to votes on the Wales Bill and to vote in accordance with the Welsh national interest at all times? If you cannot lead those MPs, or if they are too busy fighting amongst themselves and their own party leader, what other plan do you have to influence the UK Government and the Westminster legislative process?

I am more positive on the immediate priorities for Government resulting from the talks that followed my nomination for the post of First Minister and the subsequent vote. The agreement that we reached on reviewing the individual patient funding requests process was welcome and could genuinely improve people’s lives. It followed, of course, a denial on your part during the election that this was the best way to proceed. I know that a statement is due this afternoon on this matter, and I welcome that the new treatments fund will now be a Government priority, so does the First Minister now accept that the concerns of patients in trying to access rare drugs and treatments were genuine concerns and that they can now be addressed?

It goes without saying that the economy should also be a priority for Government. At this time of economic uncertainty, it’s vital that the First Minister moves to set out the short-term and the longer-term climate for business and provides some certainty. The First Minister will know that infrastructure is a priority for my party and that we want a new approach to how decisions over infrastructure are made and informed. Will the First Minister expand on the national infrastructure commission that he’s pledged to establish as part of the deal with my party? And will the First Minister confirm that he will commit to listening to the private sector as he and his Ministers develop plans to set up the national infrastructure commission?

As expected, you’ve set out that the future generations Act will be used as a framework for delivering your policies, and I would hope that the Act, if it is to mean anything at all, will influence and underpin the policies themselves and, in particular, how and whether roads and motorways are built. It must enable us to prevent runaway climate change as well as mitigating its worst effects.

Now, the First Minister mentions that four cross-cutting strategies will be developed to implement the Act, straight after mentioning that publishing strategies does not drive improvement. Can he state which of the four strategies will include climate change?

Finally, given that we are in a time of disengagement with politics, will the First Minister commit to involving people in Wales in his Government’s programme?

I’m not entirely sure what the last comment meant, because we’ve just come through an election. We put up our programme before the people of Wales, as did all parties. But there are other questions that the leader of the opposition asked. In terms of chain of command, I am not the leader of UK Labour—not something, I suppose, I would particularly welcome at this stage, if I’m being absolutely honest about it. I am the leader of Welsh Labour and our position is very, very clear. That is that there is no sustainable solution for Wales without the jurisdiction being addressed. There is no sustainable solution for Wales without policing being addressed. Labour MPs are not your problem; it’s the UK Tory Government that’s the problem, because they’re the ones who are against any consideration of the jurisdiction and policing, and they are the ones in power, not Welsh Labour MPs at Westminster. They need to move their thinking in terms of both of those issues. Otherwise, as I said, we will have a system where policing will take place of Welsh criminal laws without any say by the people of Wales over how those laws are actually policed. That self-evidently does not make sense in the future. She will know, because I’ve said, probably ad nauseam—many, many times in this Chamber and outside—that the Wales Bill in itself could never be, in any event, a sustainable solution, given the fact that the UK constitution itself is in flux, and in two years’ time we don’t know necessarily what the UK will look like. So, there will need to be an approach that is more federalist, and there will need to be an approach that is more flexible than has been the case so far. She will have heard me say many times in this Chamber that the issue of pooled sovereignty is something that should be considered as a basis for the UK in the future, as it is in Canada. It works there; there is no reason why it can’t work here.

On the issue of the IPFR, her party was not in favour of the cancer drugs fund, then it seemed to be in favour in some way of the cancer drugs fund. We are both in a position where we want to make sure that the IPFR process is reviewed, that will happen, and we will obviously introduce our new treatment fund that will ensure that those treatments—for all life-threatening conditions, not just cancer—that are approved for use are actually rolled out across Wales as quickly as possible.

On the issue of the economy, infrastructure is indeed important and I know that we have been working with her party on what a national infrastructure commission might look like—hugely important, of course, that there is democratic accountability as part of that. In terms of building roads and motorways, well, it’s correct to say that you can’t build your way out of trouble through simply building roads; that much is true. The M4 is not going to go away as a problem, it needs a resolution—in the same way as her party was very much in favour of the Porthmadog bypass, was very much in favour of the improvement of the road between Llandysul and Synod Inn; I understand the reasons why. The Llandysul bypass was another example of where her party was in favour of such—and indeed it was her own party leader that took those roads forward. So, I think it’s important to point out that her party has supported road schemes in the past.

But it’s not a question of either/or, because the metro is hugely important. There is no way, for example, that a solution can be found to congestion on the A470 by widening the road. It’s impossible, because of the way the road narrows towards Cardiff. So, it will be hugely important to see the metro established across the south of Wales, and, indeed, looking at the concept of Metro North, to make sure that that is taken forward as well, because we know that improving public transport is an important part of resolving the issues of traffic on the road.

She asked, ‘Where does climate change sit?’ Climate change is cross-cutting. It’s an issue that affects us all. Every single department within Government has the ability to contribute to reducing climate change and that is something that I expect all Ministers to adhere to.

Thank you, First Minister, for your statement this afternoon. I have to state my disappointment at such a lightweight statement, which talks in very flowery language but doesn’t offer much substance, to be honest with you. I do believe that the smokescreen—[Interruption.] I do believe the smokescreen of the referendum result is most probably just mirroring an inability for the Government to reach agreement with its coalition partners over a programme for government and I do think that people do need to reflect on that, because there are many issues that could’ve been brought forward in this statement, and then we could’ve had the bigger document. I remember the last programme for government in the fourth Assembly—666 pages with a sunflower on the front of it, and my colleague Nick Ramsay was very concerned about the future of that sunflower. It didn’t make it to the end of the Assembly; the sunflower died and wilted, and I do think this Government is wilting only in its first couple of hundred days within office.

But there is a lot of important stuff that the First Minister could’ve covered in his statement this afternoon, because it is ‘Priorities for Government’. There is no mention of the steel crisis at all in this statement whatsoever. You wouldn’t have known that the emergency question or the urgent question was going to be taken when this statement was being drafted, so I am surprised that there is no mention of the steel crisis, because surely that is a priority for the Government. I am surprised that there is no mention of how the Government proposes to tackle the NHS deficit in two of the NHS local health boards, which amounts to £50 million, which, again, could’ve been alluded to in this statement, accepting that the bigger document would come in the autumn.

The First Minister could’ve elaborated on the commitment around business rates, which we’ve been trying to get an understanding of for the last eight weeks since the election, but no Minister has come forward to explain exactly what that commitment would mean for businesses. Again, that could’ve been incorporated in this statement. We could’ve had an understanding of the cost that the Lib Dems have extracted from the Government, because, as the Lib Dems have pointed out, there is a significant financial cost to the commitments the Government has made, and the First Minister could’ve been in a position to inform us, via this statement, exactly what those costs were—again, something that was within your gift and you could’ve brought forward.

So, I would hope that, in response to me, you will give us some answers to those questions. What is the Government doing to address the NHS deficit here in Wales? What is the Government going to do on business rates—in particular, what new scheme will it bring forward? And what will it be doing to engage with the steel industry going forward, because it does seem to have been wrong-footed entirely by the announcements that were brought forward last week? And I have to say, First Minister, you weren’t in here when the urgent question was taken, and some of those answers provided little or no comfort to Members, irrespective of political colour in this Chamber, I have to say. We want to work on a cross-party basis on this and I think the arrangements to date have been very constructive, but I have to say that the response that was received on the urgent question today does not give much comfort to Members of any political party in this Chamber. So, I’d hope that maybe you will respond in a fuller way, because you could’ve incorporated that in your statement.

You did touch on the metro project and how that will be taken forward. I notice there’s nothing about the north Wales growth deal in here at all and how you will work to promote north Wales in particular, because, in your manifesto, you did have proposals for a north Wales metro, but you’ve chosen not to mention anything around north Wales—[Interruption.] I’ve read the statement very clearly; you allude to the metro project here in south Wales, you have.

So, First Minister, actually, instead of using this opportunity to map out what the Government’s priorities are going forward, you have just chosen to fill it with flowery language that carried little substance and won’t make any difference to people’s lives across Wales. So, on the questions I’ve put to you, can you give us some substantive answers or will we just have to wait another nine weeks to come back here and get another flowery document of 666 pages with, what, a daffodil on it instead of a sunflower this time, First Minister?

Isn’t there a sense of irony that the leader of the Conservatives stands up and talks about flowery language while talking about sunflowers without actually realising that? He didn’t listen to what I said in response to the leader of the opposition about Metro North, as I’ve called it; he obviously missed that response. Of course, in time, we’re working on our manifesto commitment over business rates and there will be announcements on that.

On the steel crisis, the situation is this: we’ve been in constant contact with Tata. I had an official on—[Interruption.] Well, there’s been an urgent question on this; I gave a response, indeed, in FMQs explaining the situation. We have a package on the table—a financial package—and we will expect to see conditionality attached to that package in terms of commitments to numbers of jobs and a period of time over which further investment will take place, but we also need to see action on pensions. It is not a matter that we can actually deal with as a devolved matter and we need to see the UK Government resolve the issue of pensions and the issue of energy prices, which every single energy-intensive industry in Wales tells us is a problem. I met with Celsa last week and again they said that energy prices in the UK are a problem. We can ignore it as much as he wants, but that’s what businesses are saying to me and it would do him well to listen.

I have to say, I’ve stood in this Chamber for weeks listening to him expound the benefits of Brexit. Not on any single occasion has he realised the problem of losing £600 million a year as part of our budget—not once has he recognised that that is a problem. Only today, when he was asked about it, he said there was a limit to how much money the Welsh Government could spend on computer rooms and community centres. That’s what he thought the money went on—not ProAct, not ReAct, not Jobs Growth Wales, not the metro, not the metro in the north and all these things, not farming subsidies—not farming subsidies—because, without that commitment, we can’t pay farming subsidies to our farmers. Yet, despite what other parties have done—Plaid Cymru, and UKIP for that matter, who have called for every single penny to be made up by the UK Government—he has failed to do so week after week after week in this Chamber. So, I cannot take lessons from him in terms of how we should govern when he fails to stand up for Wales. Can I advise him that, if he wants to be taken seriously as the leader of the Welsh Conservatives, he should join other parties in this Chamber and make sure that Wales doesn’t lose out? Then he would look to gain more respect from the people of Wales.

First Minister, I do agree with you that the impact of Brexit has to be very, very carefully considered, and that will take a lot of time and a lot of commitment. I am particularly concerned on environmental policy. I realise that it’s early days, but there are some really massive issues to consider. For instance, on the future of the EU’s energy efficiency directive, how are we going to see that apply to Wales? Are we going to hardwire it into our own policy development? Waste and the circular economy: these are central areas to our current strategy and areas where we’ve made excellent progress, actually, and have been leaders at least in the UK or even further afield. Again, this is going to take a lot of work, because, at the moment, we are plugged into that European network and have a lot of assistance from that.

Climate change targets is another area where an awful lot of responsibility will come back from where it is at the moment in setting comprehensive cross-national targets—will it come back here or are we going to see them co-ordinated on a wider level across the UK? These are very intricate points.

I know, in terms of the priority that these matters had in the last Assembly, that we do not want to lose any advances that we have made. They’ve got to be held as leading the way across the UK level and ensuring that the highest standards are adopted, and that we have a truly sustainable economy for the future, based on coherent, extensive ambition in our environmental policy.

I agree entirely with what the Member has said. He recognises the challenges of Brexit. We know that it’s impossible to operate effectively on an environmental scale, particularly when it comes to air pollution, simply by looking at Wales or simply by looking at the UK for that matter, or simply by looking at Europe. It’s one thing to reduce air pollution in Europe, but if a particular industry relocates to a part of the world where controls are more lax, then it just means that the pollution is being exported to another part of the world and, actually, globally, things are made worse. So, it’s hugely important that we influence those areas where we can and, of course, look to keep energy-intensive industry in Wales, while, at the same time, ensuring that they have proper environmental regulations that they follow.

In a meeting that I had last week with representatives of the sector, I made it clear to them that was is already enshrined in Welsh law will remain. It will then be a matter for Government over the next few years to decide what it wishes to keep and what it wishes to discard. We’re nowhere near the beginning of that process, but we have to understand that it isn’t the case that, when the UK leaves the EU, everything falls that ever came from Europe. That clearly isn’t the case. It’s the same as when the Irish Free State left the UK. It’s not as if all the laws fell and there was no law. The laws that were there remained until they were amended in the future by the Dáil at that time. But, it is right to say that we shouldn’t lose sight of the good progress that we’ve made in terms of our environment and the excellent progress, particularly, that’s been made in recycling.

I appreciate what you say in your statement, for which I thank you, First Minister. Even though you didn’t have an awful lot of content to be able to give us today, there was an opportunity, which wasn’t taken, to highlight the Welsh Government’s mainstreaming of rights throughout the programme of government when we see it. I think a re-statement of that principle would have laid down a marker for those delivering public services that you expect equalities and the rights of Welsh speakers, children, older people, carers and a whole range of other groups, to be at the forefront of how those services are delivered now and as a result of your eventual programme for government. So, could you take this opportunity to re-commit, if you like, to the ‘due regard’ principle in terms of policy and legislation, but just as importantly in the monitoring and evaluation processes within Government? For example, there’s very little point in carers having the right to an assessment of needs separate from that of the person for whom they’re caring under the social services Act if it’s not being offered in practice. That’s just one example. I think this disconnect between the role of rights in policy and legislation and in the local delivery is going to be an issue that Welsh Government will continue to face over these next five years, and one that is capable of being resolved in a very straightforward way, I think. Thank you.

Well, we expect what is legally required to be delivered, and if that is not delivered, then there is legal redress, of course, in terms of that. With regard to the mainstreaming of rights, the practices we’ve continued up until now will continue. The Member will know that there are a number of areas where due regard has to be made to the rights of others and, indeed, the effect of particular policies on particular groups. That process will continue in the future to make sure that policies do not have any unexpected consequences that are to the detriment of some groups in society.

Finally, Mark Isherwood.

Diolch, Lywydd. Of the number of priorities for government in here that I can’t see specifically referred to, you have made some reference to the high costs of energy for the steel industry. Of course, negotiations with the EU that were begun by the UK coalition Government have only recently been concluded with agreement to help with those costs coming into force. Are you able to expand on what that agreement is and how that will assist, or, if not, establish that information and then perhaps brief this Assembly after the summer recess?

You refer to your being clear that we don’t drive improvements by publishing strategies. At lunchtime, I hosted an event for Epilepsy Wales. When I raised this in the business statement, the reply I got referred to the Welsh Government’s epilepsy strategy and statements that might be made by the Minister in the future. Will you ensure that the concerns raised by Epilepsy Wales and, more importantly, service users are taken account of?

You’ve also, on many occasions, responded to questions during the fifth Assembly on proposals for an autism Act, which we’ve been calling for, and which I had a debate on in January 2015. Initially, responses seemed to suggest it might be incorporated within an additional learning needs Bill. Subsequently, you’ve responded more generally that the Welsh Government is considering this further. Will you recognise that the autism community in Wales and the organisations working with it and supporting it are calling for a statutory underpinning to impose duties on service providers, particularly health and social care and education, so that the problems evidenced by the sector and, particularly, people on the spectrum and their carers and families are addressed and given a statutory identity?

Finally, my colleague Andrew R.T. Davies did refer to north Wales. We know that the Cabinet Secretary for energy and infrastructure held a summit last Friday in north Wales to discuss economic development in north Wales in the context of the Northern Powerhouse, but we haven’t heard reference to the actual growth deal announced by the Chancellor in March in the budget statement, when he said the UK Government will open the door to a growth deal for north Wales to strengthen the region’s economy and make the most of its connection to the northern powerhouse—in other words, a partnership, which I understood actually involved, potentially, more UK money, above Barnett, being on the table, if the Welsh Government engages early with that. I welcome the fact that the Under-Secretary of State at UK Government was present on Friday, but could you respond specifically in the context of the growth deal—capital ‘g’ and ‘d’—that was announced in the budget?

Well, I can assure the Member we will work with UK Government with regard to the growth deal. What is not clear at the moment is whether there is an element of that deal that would have been European funded, and this is at the heart of the dilemma that we face. If, for example, there is a gap in that funding, it has to be made up in some way, and, certainly, it has to be provided for that.

With regard to the epilepsy strategy, of course we want to listen to the concerns of service users, and they will be taken fully into account as we have regard to that strategy over the years to come. With autism, it’s right to say that it didn’t work as part of the ALN Bill. We are looking at what legislation might be necessary in the future in order to strengthen the rights of service users, and that process is still ongoing.

With regard to energy, it’s not to do with the EU; it’s to do with the UK’s energy market and the opaque way in which it operates. Now, I’ve had discussions with Celsa and, again, they said to me last week that they operate on the basis where, in Germany, energy costs are 20 per cent lower; in Spain 37 per cent lower. Now, there’s no rhyme or reason why that should be, but it’s to do, I suspect, with the fact that, in the UK, the energy market is not as transparent as it is elsewhere in Europe. Now, I’ve said it many, many times; what I’d say is that we need to make sure that the voice of businesses in Wales is heard in Treasury because they are all saying the same thing. They find it hugely difficult to compete because of energy prices. Tata have said the same thing, and this is an issue that the UK Government and the UK itself cannot run away from. Do we want to have energy-intensive industries? If that is the case we’ve got to make sure that there is a competitive package available in terms of energy prices; and we’re not at that point yet.

Thank you, First Minister.