The next item, therefore, is a statement by the First Minister on the latest developments in the UK Government's Brexit negotiations. I call on the First Minister to make the statement—Mark Drakeford. 

Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. With 38 days now to go until the UK leaves the European Union, we are no closer to a solution to the most pressing issue of our time. Last week, the UK Government failed to carry even a bland motion in the House of Commons because of the fanatical insistence of the hardline Brexiteers that no deal is an acceptable outcome. That revealed again how deeply dangerous and misguided the Prime Minister’s policy is of relying on the one group in the House of Commons who are prepared to see this country go over the Brexit cliff edge. Their support, even if it could be secured, will never provide the reliable majority needed to take a deal and all its accompanying legislation through the parliamentary process. The Prime Minister's ill-fated approach further dissipates potential support at home and squanders the meagre residue of goodwill towards the UK in the rest of the EU. It is surely clear that the Prime Minister must now switch to find a majority, which I believe is there to be found, for the sort of Brexit set out in the proposals we and Plaid Cymru published over two years ago, and which was reflected in the letter sent by the leader of the opposition to the Prime Minister last week.

Llywydd, not one of the objections of the hardliners to the sort of economic relationship that we propose stands up to proper examination. First of all, the Conservative Party European Research Group say that they cannot contemplate membership of a customs union with the European Union, but a customs union is not an existential threat, it is a pragmatic necessity to preserve our capability to trade effectively on a global stage. Secondly, we're told that an arrangement of the sort we advocate would frustrate the UK’s ability to strike new trade deals around the globe. Well, Llywydd, I set on one side the Government’s own economic analysis that even on the most optimistic assumptions, such deals would have only a marginal effect on our economy, and I don’t even point to the abject failure to secure continued access to the 40 trade deals with 70 other European countries, which we enjoy today through our membership of the European Union, let alone the new deals with Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Chile, which the EU has been negotiating while we are preoccupied by Brexit. Our approach, Llywydd, does not end the ambition for the UK to enter new trade deals. As has already been set out by organisations such as the British Irish Chamber of Commerce, there is an opportunity, if sufficient flexibility can be shown, to enable the UK to negotiate new trade deals alongside the EU. The alternative is the unfolding catastrophe of a 'no deal' exit, and I chose that word deliberately, Llywydd. The chaos has already begun, with investors pulling out and cancelling plans. This will get worse every day the uncertainty is allowed to continue. If we drop off the Brexit cliff edge, we risk not just the short-term shock it will bring, but the long-term undermining of our economic futures.

Last week, we learnt that in the event of a 'no deal', Ford would consider the future of its UK operations. This echoed the comments from Airbus last month. Today, we have the announcement from Honda, following Nissan's cancelled investment announced last week. What more does it take, Llywydd, to demonstrate the failure of this Government to maintain a stable environment for international investment with the consequences that follow? We can no longer talk about the potential for Brexit to damage our economy—the damage is here, the damage is now, and every day of uncertainty further erodes the confidence of business investors, with the results passed on into the lives of working families here in Wales.

Llywydd, you only have to talk to organisations that represent smaller businesses to hear that the fear of closure is on every high street and on every industrial estate and in every part of Wales and the United Kingdom. The British Chambers of Commerce has accused the UK Government of leaving them hung out to dry in the event of a 'no deal' Brexit. And as the clock runs down, the jobs that are being lost are being lost now. Investment has slumped and that despite the fact that many companies are stockpiling for the future. For the sake of that future, let the Prime Minister take the advice of this National Assembly—take no deal off the table, seek an extension to article 50, and fashion an agreement that puts the needs of jobs, livelihoods and our economy first. The Prime Minister has every obligation to rule out no deal, and she should do that immediately. It is irresponsible too to continue to claim that the withdrawal process, which includes hugely important primary legislation to embed the withdrawal agreement in law, even if a meaningful vote can be passed—that that can all be concluded in six weeks. It simply cannot be done. And leaving a request to the European Union longer simply increases the risk that such an extension cannot be agreed. Now, Llywydd, if the UK Government fails to act in the national interest, then Parliament must do so, and if Parliament itself is deadlocked, then, as we discussed earlier this afternoon, the decision must return to the people.

In the meantime, and since this matter was last discussed here, the Welsh Government goes on relentlessly representing our national interest at every opportunity. In the last few weeks, I myself have met with the Prime Minister, the First Minister of Scotland, the leader of the opposition, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Labour's Brexit spokesperson, Sir Keir Starmer, the chair of the House of Commons Brexit committee and many others. I have attended the UK Government's Cabinet sub-committee on Brexit preparation in London, and I will go to London again to do so tomorrow. I'm grateful to the leader of the opposition here for finding time to meet me on terms where I could share information from those meetings with him and to seek his views in return.

My Cabinet colleagues too remain focused on this essential agenda. In the last week, the Counsel General has attended both meetings of the Joint Ministerial Committee on Europe and on European negotiations. He's been in Edinburgh to attend a ministerial forum on EU negotiations, and he has been in London attending the UK Cabinet sub-committee on Brexit preparations. On Friday last, the finance Minister hosted the finance Ministers' quadrilateral, as you've heard, here in Cardiff. Eluned Morgan attended a ministerial quadrilateral on international trade yesterday in London, and Lesley Griffiths took part yesterday in an environment Ministers' quadrilateral. Here in the Assembly, Ministers have appeared before the External Affairs and Additional Legislation Committee and other subject committees to report on our actions and to be scrutinised upon them. Beyond the Assembly, we remain in close contact with the widest range of partners here in Wales. Last week, Ken Skates chaired a meeting of the Council for Economic Development to discuss Brexit preparation, and, just today, the health Minister has chaired a meeting of the health European stakeholder group. 

Llywydd, the Welsh Government is committed to doing all we can to help prepare and mitigate the impact of leaving the European Union. The report of the auditor general, published earlier this morning, points to the lead role the Welsh Government has taken in identifying and managing national and strategic risks, working with others inside and outside Wales to do so. The stark truth remains, Llywydd, that leaving the European Union without a deal poses a risk that cannot be mitigated, but can be avoided. The Prime Minister must change course before it is too late for that to happen. 

Can I thank you, First Minister, for your statement this afternoon? Of course, it's absolutely critical that regular and productive engagement takes place in this Parliament to help prepare Wales in the, hopefully unlikely, event that we leave the EU without a deal. Therefore, it's vitally important, as I've said before, that Wales's leaders set aside their political differences and leave no stone unturned when it comes to preparing Wales for life after 29 March, and that's why I did accept your invitation to meet to discuss the implications of Brexit some weeks ago. 

Now, in your statement today, First Minister, you criticise hardliners in the Conservative Party. Well, you won't be surprised that I'm not going to take any lessons from you and your party on hardliners and disagreements, given that we saw only yesterday a new independent group being formed of seven disillusioned Labour MPs, who could not serve under Jeremy Corbyn. They couldn't stay in a party with such uncertainty over the Labour Party stance on Brexit, and, indeed, on so many other issues. And this hardly shows a united party. Now, I'd like to reaffirm the commitment—[Interruption.] Now, I'd like to reaffirm the commitment that the Prime Minister has made regarding continuing to work hard with all parties to try and secure agreement, so we can leave the EU with a deal that will work for everyone. And I'm now pleased that, at long last, the leader of the Labour Party has met with the Prime Minister and is engaging in this process.

Now, I know that you'd like to see a 'no deal' scenario off the table, First Minister. As I've told you before, I also want to leave the EU with a deal, but the only way you can ensure a deal is to encourage your colleagues to support a deal. So, can you confirm today that, if the Prime Minister is successful in seeking changes to the current deal, you would therefore encourage your colleagues in Westminster to seek to lend their support to that deal, to ensure we don't leave the EU without a deal?

Of course, I'm very concerned to hear that businesses are worried about Brexit's uncertainty. Naturally, like you, First Minister, I'm devastated to hear that Honda will be closing its plant in Swindon, and the huge effect that that will have on Welsh suppliers. However, Honda has said that the decision was due to global changes in the car industry, so we have to be very, very careful, when we use examples, that companies' decisions are reported accurately. Now, all the businesses I speak to want a deal so they can plan for future years, and we owe it to businesses to work together and secure a deal. Now, First Minister, you'll be aware that the Prime Minister has negotiated a particular deal with the EU that does include a 21-month implementation period, when all trading rules would remain in place. This would give clarity to businesses, and this needs to happen. 

I know you will again be meeting the Prime Minister tomorrow to hold further discussions. So, therefore, can you reassure us that you will represent businesses appropriately and accurately, given that many businesses have continuously supported the Prime Minister's current deal?

Now, I remain concerned that there appears to be little progress made since the External Affairs and Additional Legislation Committee published its report regarding preparing for Brexit, a year ago. There was a clear direction from the committee in their findings that the Welsh Government needed to improve its communication with individual organisations, through improved encouragement of representative bodies to share information with all the related organisations. And it's hugely important that public services in Wales receive more information to effectively prepare for Brexit, and, First Minister, you told me last time I asked you about this that a lot of work has been done. However, the Wales Audit Office report into Brexit, which is referred to in today's statement, confirms that only a minority of councils have clear plans to deal with the risks that they have identified. In this report, concerns have actually been expressed about a lack of capacity in public services to manage Brexit, which is also having a significant knock-on impact on other service areas. In the circumstances, how do you as a Government respond to these specific concerns, and what measures are you now putting in place to support these vital services, going forward?

And therefore, in closing, Llywydd, can I thank the First Minister for his statement today? Time is, of course, now of the essence, and so can I reiterate once again that my colleagues and I are committed to working, where we can, with both the UK Government and the Welsh Government on behalf of the people of Wales?

Llywydd, I thank the Member for those comments, and for the questions.

The reason why we decided to bring forward this statement today was because we didn't want the Assembly not to have an opportunity to discuss these vitally important matters in advance of the recess. And I acknowledge what the Member said in opening about the need to make sure that there is full engagement here in this Parliament. I disagree with the Member on a number of points, and I'll deal with those briefly, before going on to deal with some of the things where I think there is agreement between us.

First of all, I think the time has long gone when keeping a 'no deal' outcome on the table was of any use to the Prime Minister in her negotiations with the European Union. Maybe—I doubted it then, but I would at least have been prepared to accept the theoretical possibility early on that keeping that on the table might have been useful. But, as the weeks have seeped by, the idea that that gives the Prime Minister any leverage at all in her discussions elsewhere has long, long evaporated. Instead, it is now an inhibition to getting the sort of agreement that we rely upon our European partners to come to the table and help us to agree. It would help the Prime Minister to secure the majority she needs on the floor of the House of Commons if she were simply to take that possibility away. And the leader of the opposition met the Prime Minister because the House of Commons had passed a resolution ruling out 'no deal', and he had said to her all along that that was one of the conditions on which he would meet her. When the House of Commons voted in favour of that proposition, he immediately agreed to meet, and the sort of arrangements for Brexit that were set out in his letter, as I said earlier, were widely welcomed in the European Union as forming the basis for the sort of deal that could command a majority in the House of Commons and would be able to be negotiated with them.

Now, Llywydd, I don't doubt for a single moment the sincerity of the leader of the opposition when he expresses his concerns for the economic consequences of decisions that are being made that affect the lives of people here in Wales. I don't believe that Brexit played no part in Honda's decision. I agree that it was a background rather than a foreground decision, and the foreground decisions are the ones that the company has pointed to in relation to international changes in the automotive industry. But, when I met Ford with Ken Skates last week, what they said to us was that the challenges that face them are not caused primarily by Brexit, but they are compounded by Brexit. Brexit is there in the background and is making life for all these major manufacturers more difficult than it otherwise would be. Of course, I welcome the fact that the Prime Minister has agreed to an extension, a transition period, if her deal can be secured, because we argued for that from the very first meeting we held with members of the UK Government after the referendum of June 2016. And I will certainly represent the views of Welsh businesses. It's amongst the most powerful things that I'm able to do in meetings with UK Ministers: to pass on to them the views that Welsh businesses have directly passed to us.   

In relation to the final questions the Member raised arising from the auditor general's report, well, he will have seen the report that said that the Welsh Government has taken positive steps to engage public service leaders through the partnership council. We had a special meeting of it on Brexit in January. We continue to engage with local government leaders and others. I have some sympathy for them, Llywydd. Here they are, hard-pressed, as we hear around this Chamber week after week, with Members here wanting more to be spent on front-line services, as do we, and now being asked to take money away from those services to prepare for an eventuality that they bitterly hope will not take place, and that's an invidious position for any local authority leader to be in. Nevertheless, we go on working with them, providing funding to them as well, in order to assist them in the work that we will need them to undertake should a 'no deal' Brexit actually take place.

I'm grateful to the First Minister for seeing his statement in advance. You state in the statement that the proposals set out in 'Securing Wales' Future' were reflected in Jeremy Corbyn's letter to Theresa May last week. But that isn't exactly the case, is it? I quote 'Securing Wales' Future':

'The EU Customs Union delivers benefits for Welsh business.... We believe at this stage that remaining part of the EU Customs Union, including for primary agricultural and fisheries products, remains the best position for Welsh and UK business.'

What Jeremy Corbyn calls for is a permanent and comprehensive UK-wide customs union that would include alignment with the union customs code, a common external tariff and agreement on commercial policy that includes a UK say on future EU trade deals. Now, that's not the EU customs union as we understand it, certainly, and, indeed, that proposal is currently impossible legally under EU treaty law. So, would he accept—? On the single market as well, the agreement that we negotiated between our two parties was—. We preferred membership, you preferred participation, but, essentially, it was remaining part of the single market, whereas only this afternoon Jeremy Corbyn, asked specifically about that, said that he rejects that idea and what he wants is a tariff-free trade arrangement. So, would he at least accept that actually what Jeremy Corbyn is advancing is not the same as we negotiated between our two parties? 

On the question of the backstop, it remains to me one of the more curious elements of the Labour Party frontbench position in Westminster that they continue to express their concerns about the backstop, despite different comments that have been made by Labour Party representatives here. The shadow Brexit Secretary still says there are difficulties with it and there are echoes here of what the DUP and some of the wider fringes of the Conservative Party are saying. 

Finally, to focus on the core issue really, 38 days away from crashing out, as you said, we're clear that there is only one means possible now realistically of avoiding this and that's the people's vote. I was going to castigate you for actually leaving that out completely of your statement. I re-read it. It wasn't in the written statement, was it? It was added in in response to First Minister's questions. So, it's true, they aren't a complete waste of time. You're almost like Jeremy Corbyn in reverse. He had a reference to the people's vote in the first draft of the letter and it was taken out. You didn't have a reference to the people's vote in your written draft and you put it in. But I rejoice at that. There was a rowing back, and, suddenly, a small step in the right direction.

But, you know, when are we going to have progress? You talk about the importance of 'no deal', but no progress is at least as toxic to where we are. So, when will we finally have an unequivocal statement from you, First Minister, in favour of calling for a people’s vote now?

Jeremy Corbyn actually said this afternoon that he supported a popular decision at the end of the process. I’ve no idea what that means. Perhaps you can elucidate further. Does it mean a final-say referendum at the end of the transition period—a position that’s been advanced previously by Mick Antoniw? Does it mean that the Labour frontbench are going to support the Kyle-Wilson amendment? Apparently, John McDonnell says they’re going to make a decision this week on that, on a confirmatory referendum. Did you discuss that in Cabinet this morning? Are you able to tell us what the position is?

You referred, finally, to your meeting that you had with the leader of the opposition. Well, here’s a genuine offer: why don’t we meet together to start the preparations—the immediate preparations that we’ve called for—for the people’s vote? Why don’t you and I meet together to start the preparations, not just for calling for that referendum, but holding it and winning it here in Wales?

Well, Llywydd, I always try to be careful in what I say on the floor of the Assembly, and what I said was that the document that was drawn up between Plaid Cymru and the Labour Party here was reflected in the letter sent by the leader of the opposition. I didn’t say that it was replicated. I said that it was reflected. And I chose that word deliberately, because I think—[Interruption.] No, I understand that Members would rather not have precision in the way we talk about things, but when I used the word ‘reflected’, I used it because the broad thrust of the things that we discussed here I think are reflected in that letter. It’s not a replication; it doesn’t cover it in every detail, but we said here that membership of a customs union was vital to Welsh businesses, and a customs union is confirmed in the letter that was sent by the leader of the opposition. We have said that full and unfettered access to the single market is important. I believe that that is reflected in the letter sent by the leader of the opposition as well.

So, you know, I think it is better that when we see steps being taken in the direction that we would like to see things taken, we welcome those things and we try and find ways of assisting in that process, rather than, as I sometimes think we see, a sort of exegetical fascination with trying to find minor gaps between what is said in one statement and another, what is contained in one letter and a document. It’s completely lost on anybody outside this Chamber, believe me. Absolutely nobody would be interested in the points that the leader of Plaid Cymru made to me this afternoon. Far, far better if we were to continue trying to do what we have been trying to do, which is to agree the broad thrust of the things that we think are important and then putting our shoulders together to that wheel. And that is an effort that I’m certainly prepared to go on making, and I’m prepared to make it with people whenever, in this Chamber, they have an interest in securing an outcome that would be right for Wales.

I’m always happy to debate the issues of Brexit in this Chamber, but it would have been quite easy for the First Minister to come today and make a much shorter statement than the one he did. He could simply have said, ‘There have been no developments in the last few months’, and that is because, I agree with him, we’re no closer to a solution, and that’s because the Prime Minister is not asking the right questions. And right from the beginning, she has wanted to cobble together some kind of a deal that has in substance kept us inside the EU whilst nominally looking as though we’ve left it. And that is something that is doomed to failure, because, obviously, the EU are never going to accept that kind of arrangement. For them, you either have to be in or out. So, we’ve wasted the last two and a half years, and we can all criticise the Government for the uncertainty, or extra uncertainty, that this has caused, and it’s a highly justifiable criticism that the United Kingdom Government has not made adequate preparations, or indeed any preparations so far as we can see that are of any great substance, for leaving without a deal. And that, I think, is one of the major problems that we've got to contend with.

The language in the statement doesn't help, of course—

'fanatical insistince of hardline Brexiteers that no deal is an acceptable outcome.'

Of course, there's the fanatical insistence of hardline remainers that we should do everything possible to undermine the referendum result. That sort of language doesn't really get us anywhere, but the reason why we have these fanatical insisters on both sides of the argument is that nobody trusts the Prime Minister. Half the argument is that they fear that she is going to take us out of the European Union without a deal, and the other half is fearful that we're actually going to be kept inside the EU. It's the deliberate, calculated obscurity of the Prime Minister in her language that has produced this outcome, and which is the most toxic element in this mix. So, to that extent, I can accept what the First Minister has said today.

But continued access to 40 trade deals is not going to be vital to our future as a nation. What are these trade deals that the EU has managed in its 50-odd year history to negotiate? San Marino, Andorra, the Bailiwick of Guernsey, the Isle of Man, the Bailiwick of Jersey, Monaco, and now we've got Serbia, Montenegro and Albania, Moldova, Georgia. Well, these are all worthy deals that could be done, but apart from Mexico, with whom the EU agreed a deal some years ago, and most recently Japan only this year, Canada and so on, then the EU—[Interruption.] It'll be far easier for us than for the EU, because the EU is a protectionist conspiracy, whereas we are not.

And free trade deals are actually a dart that is aimed right at the heart of the EU, as the decision of Japanese car companies recently proved, because one of the elements in Honda's decision has been that with a free trade deal with the EU, they can now have tariff-free access to the EU markets, but they don't actually need to produce inside the EU. So, that's shut them all up a bit over there, hasn't it? So, yes, free trade deals are an important part of Britain's future outside the EU, which is why membership of the customs union is incompatible with it. 

Now, from the First Minister's statement today, you would think that the whole British economy is, to use his phrase, going over a cliff. But latest Office for National Statistics market data published this week show that in the last quarter of 2018, 167,000 more people have been employed; that's 440,000 more people in work in the United Kingdom in the course of the calendar year 2018. The employment rate is therefore the highest ever—60,000 fewer people in zero-hours contracts, the lowest unemployment since 1974—unemployment fell 100,000 in 2018. Wages have gone up by 3.4 per cent, 1.3 per cent in real terms, and yet when the referendum result was announced and, indeed, before it, the predictions were that the whole economy was going into a black pit. And the predictions of the Treasury at the time were that unemployment in Britain would be 500,000 to 800,000 higher than it was in May 2018. So much for the Treasury forecasts, which are no more than political propaganda by our arch-remainer Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Another interesting development in the last few days is that Italy is now seeking a separate Brexit deal with Britain, because they recognise the importance to them of a 'no deal' Brexit from the EU. FoodDrinkEurope have said that

'The exit of the UK from the EU without a deal will constitute a lose-lose situation for the entire agri-food chain.'

The impact will be immediate and harsh. There are two sides to this argument, of course—the EU and the UK. The UK has said right at the start and, indeed, Mr Tusk said right at the start that he wanted to offer a free trade deal with the UK. The Prime Minister has refused to take up that option, and the intransigence of Juncker and Barnier on the other hand has kept this solution away from the negotiating table. That is the way forward for Britain. 

There is a world outside the EU. The EU is only 15 per cent of the world economy compared with 30 per cent 30 years ago, and it will be half that again in 30 years' time. The growth in the world is occurring in those parts of the world to which the car companies are now relocating, and not only from Britain, because Honda is closing its Honda Civic production line in Turkey, and may actually close its entire operations there. And Turkey is inside the customs union. Donald Trump is talking about imposing a 25 per cent tariff on EU exporters of cars to the United States because we insist on having a 10 per cent tariff against American cars, whereas they have only a 2.5 per cent tariff in return. The German car industry will certainly feel the wind of change if that happens, and as Britain buys one in seven of every vehicle that is made in Germany, a 'no deal' Brexit will also be a severe difficulty for them as the German economy has now been in recession for two quarters—something that they've not experienced for a great many years—whereas Britain remains open for business to the growth industries of the future. A £400 million tech fund was established this week in London by the Abu Dhabi state investor Mubadala Investment Company and Softbank, because the UK is the global capital of technical innovation. These are the industries of the future that we should be concentrating on. These are the opportunities that open up to us after Brexit. I don't want a 'no deal' Brexit—I want to have a free trade agreement with the European Union, I always have—but the failure to talk turkey about these issues is now something which is going to be a big problem for us.

The other big problem for the car industry, of course, is diesel. And it's the EU's and the United Kingdom and the Welsh Government's policy on emissions that is one of the biggest problems for the European car manufacturers. That's one of the major reasons behind Nissan's reason for abandoning production in Sunderland—because nobody is going to want diesel cars in a very short time, and yet these are the current production lines.

So, I do wish that the First Minister would be more balanced in his statements. Yes, there are going to be problems of transition from leaving the EU. Even more so with a 'no deal'—the fault for which, I believe, lies first and foremost in 10 Downing Street. But there are opportunities there as well, and continually talking down the British economy is not the way forward, and certainly not the way forward if you have an interest in the well-being of the Welsh people.

The Member said that the Prime Minister's strategy was one of deliberate obscurity. I wish I could believe that it was as planned as that. I think we have the obscurity without the deliberation, really—we just have a movement between factions as she is battered, day by day, by the fissures inside her own party.

The Member read out some of the 40 countries with which we have deals. These are the very deals that he and people like him were lauding to us in the run-up to the referendum. This is Dr Fox's infamous Tipp-Ex solution, you remember, when he said that these would be the easiest deals done in the history of trade. All it required was a bottle of Tipp-Ex in which you would Tipp-Ex out the initials 'EU' and ink in the initials 'UK'. What has he managed so far? Well, we've struck a deal with Switzerland, so our supply of cuckoo clocks is secure after Brexit, and we've done a deal with the Faroe Islands. So, anybody keen on a woolly jumper to keep warm in the Brexit chill will find that they've been looked after as well.

The Member said that free trade deals are incompatible with a customs union. He said that just after he had outlined the free trade deals that the EU have struck in recent weeks, while, as I recall, still being in a customs union. He said as well that everything in the UK economy is going swimmingly, despite the fact that the Bank of England figures suggest that the UK economy is 2 per cent smaller today than it would have been if we hadn't had a referendum, and that families in Wales are each £800 worse off as a result of that decision.

He strikes me, as ever, Llywydd, as the captain of the Titanic. We set sail as fast as we can towards the iceberg, pointing out that there will be some problems on collision, but the iceberg will be jolly sorry—that the European Union will be sorry for the harm that all this is doing to them. We hear we'll be members of Buccaneering Britain, the fantasy land of the Brexiteers, in which, free of the restraints that have caused the European Union economy to be such a success for 40 years, we will be able to go it alone and cut it alone. It simply does not bear any relation to the realities of a globally integrated economy and harks back to a set of circumstances that simply don't pertain today and certainly will not pertain if we crash out of the European Union.

Thank you, First Minister.