Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:48 pm on 2 October 2018.

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Photo of Carwyn Jones Carwyn Jones Labour 1:48, 2 October 2018

So, he accuses me of a lack of ambition, and then he does down one of the biggest and most important investment projects Wales has ever had—750 jobs coming to Wales, a centre of excellence for electric technology for the Lagonda. And I can say to him that, in the real world, you cannot deal with businesses if you say to them, 'Every deal that we have with you we will reveal in public'. No-one will come here. No-one will come here. We will do as much as we can to make sure as much is in the public domain as possible, but if you're saying that, if you were First Minister, you would conduct negotiations in public and have a deal that was made public, no-one would come here. No-one would come here; they'd go elsewhere, where they feel that they could have more confidence in the Government.

And, secondly, I have to say this to him: it's hugely important for us in Wales to show that we can attract investment, not just because of the money we put on the table—Aston Martin were clear about that; they said that there were better financial packages available elsewhere. Aston Martin said that they were impressed by the passion and professionalism of the Welsh Government. That's what we do: show that passion, show that professionalism, and bring jobs into Wales.