1. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the warning from Aston Martin yesterday that its investment in St Athan could be at risk as a result of a Brexit no-deal? 65

The Welsh Government agrees with Aston Martin that a 'no deal' represents a risk to business. However, the company has not indicated any risk to the investment in St Athan, which is progressing at pace.

I'm very encouraged by that response. I recently visited Aston Martin in St Athan to view progress on turning the super hangar into a production plant with Welsh Government support for the company's new luxury DBX model, creating 750 highly skilled jobs as well as £60 million-worth of contracts benefiting Wales, but I still say I'm concerned that this significant investment could now be at risk. Will you ensure that the evidence that Aston Martin gave to the select committee in Westminster is taken into account in the Welsh Government Brexit negotiations with the UK Government, demonstrating, as Aston Martin said yesterday, that a 'no deal' Brexit could be semi-catastrophic for car manufacturing in Wales? Could we ask the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport to meet with Aston Martin to update us and get those reassurances that you are giving this afternoon, Cabinet Secretary, that this will not have an adverse impact on their development in St Athan?

Llywydd, the Welsh Government is in constant communications with Aston Martin regarding this investment and the support that the Welsh Government can provide to the company to secure the investment and the maximum benefit from it, but, certainly, the Cabinet Secretary will, of course, have heard your comments and will continue to bear that in mind as he meets and supports Aston Martin.

Can I say, Llywydd, on a wider basis, that the Member for the Vale of Glamorgan has worked very hard to support and sustain this investment? She and I both understand the importance of this investment to the St Athan enterprise zone and we understand the importance of retaining free and unfettered access to the single market, and it is that objective that continues to guide the policy and approach of the Welsh Government with regard to Brexit. I think all of us raise our hands in horror at the way in which the UK Government is failing to deal with this most important issue.

I thank the Member for the Vale of Glamorgan for raising this important question. Obviously, the automotive sector is of crucial importance to Wales, and the stark warning issued by Aston Martin underlines just how important it is for Wales to have a direct voice in the separation negotiations with the EU, and, indeed, underlines the need for this country to have a say and a vote on the final Brexit deal. Of course, having that, if nothing else, would give us leverage, politically, in order to prioritise the automotive sector as well as other industries.

So, can the Cabinet Secretary therefore explain to me why, last night in Westminster, on a matter of a vote on giving this Parliament a say on the final Brexit deal, far from standing up for Wales, his pals in the palace couldn't be bothered to walk through the lobbies for Wales?

Llywydd, I don't wish to spend the Chamber's time this afternoon giving the Plaid Cymru spokesperson a lecture on the nature of devolved decision making—I'm surprised that Plaid Cymru don't understand that—however, let me say this: this Welsh Government has ensured that Welsh voices are represented and we will continue to provide a strong voice for Wales, standing up for Welsh interests, ensuring that the United Kingdom Government understands exactly what the needs of Wales are as we move through this process. And this Welsh Government will always continue to put the needs of Wales first, second and third.

Can I first of all welcome the Cabinet Secretary to his new responsibilities and congratulate him on his promotion?

In relation to Aston Martin, is this not one of the most absurd aspects of project fear? The evidence that was given yesterday by Mark Wilson, the finance director of Aston Martin, that production could stop at Aston Martin if there were no type-approval certificates granted for European cars or British cars after Brexit is not likely to be realised. Aston Martin exports 600 cars a year to the European Union. Germany alone exports to Britain 820,000 cars a year—that's 14 per cent of the entire car production in Germany, a third of all cars sold in the UK, and amounts to €27 billion a year. There were 2.6 million cars registered in the UK in 2015—86 per cent of them produced outside the United Kingdom. It is absurd to predict that the type-approval certification system will come to an absolute stop if there's no deal on the future trade arrangements between Britain and the rest of Europe, because that could, actually, be massively to the advantage of domestic producers, if no foreign cars could be sold in the United Kingdom. This is not a scenario that we need detain us for a single second.

I'm grateful to the leader of UKIP Wales for his kind remarks. However, I won't let that put me off. [Laughter.] I'm sure the management of Aston Martin are grateful to the Member for his lecture on their business and their business interests. I'm sure they will be very grateful to him for the time he's taken to do that, and I'm sure they will pay full note to the remarks he's made this afternoon. Perhaps the Member has been spending too much time reading the tweets from Russian robots to realise exactly what is going on in this economy and exactly what is going on in a failed Brexit exercise where the United Kingdom Government is failing to represent and stand up for the interests of Wales, the people of the United Kingdom and is failing to deliver any sort of Brexit at all.

Cabinet Secretary, isn't it the problem that it is not just the economic threat to Wales of no deal, but also the economic threat of the type of deal that we might actually end up with the Government negotiating, and that the offer by the Government recently to the Westminster Parliament of a parliamentary vote, on a 'take it or leave it' basis, is a totally meaningless gesture, and it is also one that actually undermines parliamentary democracy? Isn't the real crux of the problem that we've got a rudderless and impotent Conservative Government with impotent leadership and we desperately need a general election and for Jeremy Corbyn to be the next Prime Minister?

I agree with my friend from Pontypridd, but let me say this: we have a UK Government that is in thrall of the right-wing press, who spend half their time avoiding paying British tax and then lecturing the British Government on what British interests are, and in thrall of groups of backbenchers who are at war with each other. They are unable to form a policy, they are unable to form a programme, they are unable to command votes in the House of Commons, they are unable to even attend votes in the House of Commons. They're a Government running away from their Parliament, and the sooner we have a general election and Jeremy Corbyn leading a Labour Government, the better for us all.

We've had the political rant from the Cabinet Secretary, but let's get back to reality—[Interruption.] Let's get back to reality. And I do congratulate him on his appointment to the Cabinet.

It was only some two months ago that Aston Martin announced a £500 million deal on a trade mission to Japan. That will add a significant boost to the footprint of the factory in the Vale of Glamorgan, which I look down on every day from where we live in the village of St Hilary. I welcome that announcement and I welcome all who have been involved in it, working from the Welsh Government point of view and the UK Government point of view. It shows, when Governments work together, what can be achieved. What assessment has the Cabinet Secretary, or the Government, I should say, made of that £500 million trade deal that Aston Martin announced on 31 August this year, when they accompanied the Prime Minister to Japan, about the massive benefits that will have on the footprint that they are building in St Athan?

I'm grateful to the leader of the Welsh Conservatives for his kind remarks. But I have to say to him that the Member for the Vale of Glamorgan has worked hard on this, and his contribution—the leader of the Welsh Conservatives—to this has been less than nothing. I have to say—[Interruption.] I have to say to the leader of the opposition that the economic policies that he has consistently supported—[Interruption.] He has consistently supported—. I'm going to continue—I've got the microphone, so, you know, you're wasting your time. 

The economic policies that the leader of the opposition has consistently supported throughout his time in office in this place have been shown to be wrong. What we've seen from the United Kingdom Government in terms of their approach on austerity has been reduced growth, reduced spending. We've seen the economies of the European mainland and the eurozone move ahead, whilst the United Kingdom economy is stuck in the slow lane.

The reality is that the investment in St Athan, the Aston Martin investment, is going to continue to be supported by the Government of Wales. We are going to continue to support and stand up for Welsh interests throughout the process of Brexit, we will be continuing to put the interests of Wales first and we will continue to put the interests of the Welsh economy first.

Thank you, Cabinet Secretary.

Point of order arising from questions—Adam Price.

Earlier this afternoon, Llywydd, the leader of the opposition asked the First Minister whether he still stood by the reply he gave to Darren Millar in 2014 that there had been no allegations of bullying, or whether he had misled the Assembly. Now, the First Minister refused to respond to that question, so we have complete lack of clarity now as to whether the Assembly was misled, which is a very, very serious matter indeed. So, can I ask you, Llywydd, that you request that the First Minister return to the Chamber this afternoon so that he can address that question of whether this Assembly was misled, on a very serious matter, and if he's not prepared to address it himself, would he refer it to a third party so we can have an independent investigation of this matter? 

That is most probably not a point of order, but your comments are on the record. The content of the First Minister's answer—and I'm sorry that he's not here for this point of order—but the content of his answer is a matter for the First Minister. But reflecting on this afternoon, then some ministerial answers may have been too long this afternoon, and some may have been too short.