3. What is the Welsh Government doing to improve economic links between Wales and south-west England? OAQ52568

Our investment in transport connectivity, together with the economic action plan, demonstrates our commitment to more cross-border working and growing the economic links with our neighbours.

I thank the First Minister for his response. Last week, I chaired a Wales policy forum in Newport on building a western powerhouse, and I was surprised to listen to quite a lot of negative commentary from particularly the Plaid Cymru benches about this. And, yesterday, I think, a Plaid economist said it was 'an attack on the integrity of Wales'. Will the First Minister for the Welsh Government confirm that he supports our working more closely with the west of England, and in particular with Marvin Rees and with Tim Bowles, the two directly-elected mayors we have there, and will he ensure that the Welsh Government, to the extent it has powers, as well as the Cardiff city region, will work with those directly-elected mayors and with the UK Government to do everything possible to ensure we get the best benefit we can from the abolition of the tolls and the strength of the economy over the Severn to link in with us here in south Wales? 

Well, there is no difficulty with working cross-border. Everyone else does it. If we say we're not going to work across the border, it's a sign of an inferiority complex. And so we are more than happy to work not just with colleagues in England, but in Ireland as well and, indeed, with our European partners, who are incredibly important to us. We are an internationalist Government—we look out, and that means looking beyond Wales's borders in every way. What this can't be, though, is a power grab by the UK Government to set up some kind of cross-border body that escapes the control of the Welsh Government. That we will not put up with. One of the problems is, of course, that there's no equivalent level of Government in England that we can talk to, in reality. There's only the UK Government. The mayors don't have the powers that we have got, and it's a shame for people in England. And we saw this: there was a great opportunity for us when the regional development agencies went—all our competition disappeared. It was great news for us; it was not good news for the English regions. So, yes, of course we will work with partners outside Wales, but there has to be a defined way of doing that that doesn't impinge on the powers and responsibilities of the Government and the Assembly. 

It's just now becoming clearer that the impact of reducing the tolls on the Severn Bridge will increase traffic by around 20 per cent, as driving becomes a cheaper and more attractive alternative to public transport, as well as the impact on property prices around south-east Wales from the measure. What assessment has the First Minister made of the new public transport and active travel measures outlined in the report published last week by the future generations commissioner? 

Well, first of all, I have to take the decision as to whether the black route should proceed. I always look at alternatives. Some of them are not clear, from the report, as to how they'd actually operate in practice, but, as a Government, of course, we've been very, very committed to investment in public transport. We see that, of course, through the rail network and the substantial investment that will be put into the south Wales metro and other parts of Wales over the next few years. 

The First Minister is right, of course: there is a broader political purpose at work here. In creating these two vast conurbations, Mersey Dee in the north, Severnside in the south, straddling the Welsh border like a colossus, they're there to reintegrate Wales into England's political economy. But this has been part of your Government's agenda as well. Can the First Minister honestly say that turning Newport into a commuter suburb of greater Bristol does anything—anything—positive for people on low or average wages in Newport? And, instead of this obsession with cross-border linkages and cross-border connectivity, how about some connectivity within Wales? How about actually having transport links in Wales so that actually trying to get from the south to the north of our country isn't like an odyssey of classical proportions?

Well, I don't think building an economic Berlin wall is the answer, if I'm honest. The reality is that the economic and commercial flows go from west to east. That doesn't have to interfere with our identity. That's something that we should be proud of. That doesn't mean that it's a threat to Wales. If we see it that way, we're victims of our own inferiority complex. There are much better links to the north than there ever were. We've got a flight twice a day and the trains run every two hours; when I came here in 1999, there was no train going north at all—there was no direct train. That has improved. We've seen incremental improvements on the A470 as well, but, you know, a road is not the answer as far as north to south is concerned. But really, not even the unionists of Northern Ireland would say, 'We don't want to work with the Republic'. They see the value of cross-border working; they don't see it particularly as a threat to themselves. We should embrace it—control it and embrace it—and make sure that it works in favour of our own people.