Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:47 pm on 26 September 2017.
No, we’ve explored this before. I’ve explained to him the issue of what counts as on the books and off the books. What he describes is speculative. Every business venture is speculative to some extent. But in some ways, in the questions he asks, he answered his first question, and that is: one of the reasons why St Athan proved attractive to Aston Martin is because there was a building there that fitted their spec. It was what they wanted. The site was right. Many businesses have said to us in conversations I’ve had, ‘Look, one of the issues we face in Wales is we want to go somewhere like Ebbw Vale, but where do we go? The buildings aren’t there. The premises we need aren’t there.’ That’s why part of the investment we’re putting into Ebbw Vale, into the Heads of the Valleys, is to make sure that the right premises are there so businesses can move in, rather than an obstacle being in place that won’t be removed without Government investment. Yes, is that speculative? Well, in the sense that all business is speculative, but it’s based, to my mind, on much sounder ground than the circuit was.