<p>Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders</p>

Part of 2. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:37 pm on 19 September 2017.

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Photo of Carwyn Jones Carwyn Jones Labour 1:37, 19 September 2017

No. Ron, of course, had the opportunity to shape the direction of the National Assembly, but we know, of course, his unfortunate story. I’m proud of what we’ve achieved over the past 20 years. When I look back at what Wales was like in the 1990s: a country lacking confidence, where young people wanted to leave, a country that really had no strong profile abroad—that wasn’t happening. And the one thing that strikes me is that it was accepted as normal that unemployment should be substantially higher in Wales than in the rest of the UK. That was seen as something that was inevitable. That’s no longer the case; unemployment’s either at the UK average, or below the UK average. I could go on, of course, and she might expect me to do that, but I pick out certain comparisons there with the 1990s, in the way that Wales has changed for the better in the 20 years since the referendum.