Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy and Transport – in the Senedd at 1:55 pm on 16 January 2019.
Well, in order to raise the wealth and also the well-being of the country, we need Wales and we need the UK to become more productive. We also need to be able to compete better on the international stage. My grave fear is that, if we crash out of the European Union with no deal, our economy will shrink by around 10 per cent, our competitiveness will be hammered, our productivity levels could crumble and crash, because it will simply not be as easy as it is now to be able to get skilled labour here at the drop of a hat or, indeed, to deploy people from—we talk about Airbus—Broughton to Toulouse at a moment's notice. We won't be able to transport goods freely and rapidly. And also this is set against the backdrop of industry 4.0, which, I do believe actually offers us an opportunity to leapfrog other nations. There are precious few opportunities that economies have to excel in a short, rapid period of time, but the fourth industrial revolution, if we capture all of the opportunities, if we embrace it, gives us an opportunity to leapfrog, not just some of the existing strong economies of the world but also those that are biting on our heels. We will be able to surge ahead of them, but, as I say, it's only if we embrace the fourth industrial revolution.