Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:46 pm on 21 May 2019.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:46, 21 May 2019

Well, Llywydd, the Member never has a good word to say for Wales. He never loses an opportunity to choose the most dismal statistics he can find and then to run Wales down. He does it not just in this Chamber; he takes the opportunities he has to do that when he is on national broadcast media as well, while, on this side of the Chamber, we do our best to build Wales up. We do our best to attract businesses to come to Wales. He never misses an opportunity to paint Wales as the most dismal place he has ever come across. He does it even when the figures bear no relation to what he says. And when the Labour Party, with which he has an obsessive interest, Llywydd—I've offered before to send him membership applications given how often on the floor of the Chamber he wants to ask me questions about what the Labour Party does. At our conference, we set out a prospectus for Wales that offers hope for the future, but shows the way in which, even in the circumstances of Brexit, we can create an economy that thrives and we can create a society in which people have chances to thrive. And it would be nice if, just once, in asking questions here, the Member could put his shoulder to that wheel rather than forever trying to find ways to talk Wales down.