Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for International Relations and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 2:54 pm on 6 March 2019.
Well, I think this is one of those old chestnuts that's been pushed by members of UKIP and other Brexiteers over the years. They want to hark back to this ideal of when Britain was great and we ruled the world and we had empires, and, actually, the world has moved on since then. What we have now is a globally interconnected world where we are totally dependent on each other. And you can see that what's happened in recent weeks is that companies like Honda have recognised that, because of the links and the supply chain that can't be cut off, actually, that interconnectedness and the fact that we don't have an interconnectedness if we leave the European Union will cause problems and will cause unemployment. And you're absolutely right: I think we should be proud of the record levels of employment that we have in Wales at the moment, but we do still have issues with low pay, and that's why what we're doing now is we're trying to focus attention on trying to create new jobs that are high-skill, highly paid jobs, and I think that, actually, I've got to tell you that in my recent dealings with trying to speak to inward investors, the real issue is how we keep people who've invested here already here when they know that, actually, there could be barriers to trade in future. It's a very, very difficult message for us to sell at the moment. I'm confident that, actually, we have the skills, the ability and the talent in Wales that people will continue to invest in our country, but I've got to tell you that Brexit doesn't make it any easier.