Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:10 pm on 19 September 2017.
Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I welcome this statement. I think it is good that it does celebrate the contribution made by European workers here in Wales. I think it’s a positive statement and, as many have said, a real, practical contribution to the debate that is going on.
Personally, I think the debate so far in Westminster does look as if the Westminster Government is putting the aim of bringing down immigration beyond the economic needs of the country, and I think that this all relates to Theresa May’s disastrous time at the Home Office, when she totally failed to bring down immigration in the way that she pledged to, and that has carried on until now. I think it would be unfortunate if we had to follow any types of quotas, but I understand why the Cabinet Secretary is putting forward the possibility of regional quotas if we did reach that situation where it was needed.
I think that the documents that the Welsh Government has produced are very valuable documents to the debate, and I think there is a lot of really interesting information in here that is very important for us to learn from. I thought one of the very important points coming out of this document is the figures that show that the vast majority of EU citizens are not young, single people, but are part of a family unit. I think it did say in there that there were more than 20,000 children resident in Welsh households where at least one parent is an EU citizen. I might declare an interest, because three of my grandchildren are in that position. But I think, you know, we are discussing the debate about Brexit and the fair movement of people largely in economic terms and, obviously, I think we have to look at the big social impact it is having on the lives of families where there is an EU member who is uncertain of the future. I wondered whether the Welsh Government is doing anything in relation to that. I don’t think it’s surprising, as the Cabinet Secretary said in his statement, that many EU citizens are now leaving the country, because they don’t feel welcome.
One of the things I wanted to ask him was about the process of producing these documents, because I know that one of the groups that have felt very strongly about all these issues are young people, and I know that, in the Eisteddfod, I think, the Cabinet Secretary made a commitment that there would be consultation with young people about these documents and about how they could fit in, and obviously the Welsh Government has a duty to consult with young people. So, I wondered if you could tell us whether young people have been involved in the production of this document. I mean, they didn’t have a chance to vote, the 16 and 17-year-olds. We hope we may be able to do something about that in the future, but, obviously, that is what the position is at the moment.
And, finally, I think it’s a very important point that the document is making, that immigration is not responsible for driving down wages; it is unscrupulous employers who do exploit vulnerable people. And so I support the commitment in the statement.