Part of 2. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure – in the Senedd at 2:11 pm on 1 March 2017.
I’d like to return, if I may, to the issue of inward investment and the role that it should play in our wider economic strategy. Assembly Members will be interested to know that in the last few minutes the First Minister has told the BBC that a trip to Detroit would be pointless, and given the gravity of the situation many observers would be forced to conclude that he’s a pretty pointless First Minister.
I would like to ask the Cabinet Secretary, as he prepares to unveil his new economic strategy, how important he thinks inward investment should be to the Welsh economy going forward, given the fact that there are fewer large-scale inward investment projects than in the past, and we’re not successful at winning them. We didn’t win Jaguar Land Rover, where the engines from Bridgend will be now made. Six years ago, we didn’t win Boeing. There was a headline in the ‘Western Mail’ that celebrated Wales coming second. It sounded like some of the post-match interviews we’ve heard recently. Can the Cabinet Secretary confirm whether or not the Welsh Government offered, as I’ve heard, up to £50 million to Boeing to come to Wales? And can he also confirm that one of the reasons that Boeing decided not to was because of their concerns about the adequacy and the quality of the local skills base?