6. Will the First Minister make a statement on the impact of the latest population projections on Welsh public services? OAQ54558

Llywydd, the Office for National Statistics will publish the latest national population projections on Monday of next week, 21 October. Previous projections suggested a modest increase in the overall Welsh population but faster growth amongst older people, with impacts on a range of public services, including health, social care and housing.

Well, the First Minister will know that any projections to be published next week could easily be falsified if we had the misfortune to elect a Labour Government in the near future, because, at the Labour Party conference, the Labour Party voted, in effect, to abolish all effective control of immigration. In particular, they set themselves against any future form of immigration control based on quotas, caps, targets or incomes, and promised to get rid of the current rules that restrict access to accommodation and the national health service for many immigrants— also to get rid of the 'no recourse to public funds' policy that prevents some immigrants from claiming benefits.

He will remember that when the Blair Government decided to allow unrestricted immigration from eastern Europe, after countries like Poland and Hungary were allowed to join the EU, Len McCluskey, the leader of Unite, said in 2016 that the effect of that was that it was a

'gigantic experiment at the expense of ordinary workers' and led to

'sustained pressure on living standards' and a systematic attempt to hold down wages and cut the costs of social protection for working people. So, is the First Minister saying that he is now in favour of continuing that massive experiment, which Len McCluskey says is against the interests of working people? Isn't the truth of the matter that the Labour Party, in the frantic pursuit to have migrant votes, has actually abandoned the working classes of Britain—in particular, the white working class?

Well, I think the final remark that the Member made is deeply, deeply offensive, and he ought to think about that. If I was—. If I thought there was any chance, I would ask him to withdraw it. It really, really has no part to play on the floor of this Assembly.

His—. I'll agree with the very first thing he said, and there's nothing else that he said that I could agree with. Of course population projections are not forecasts; they don't attempt to predict the future, they simply look to see what the future could be like on previous trends. I simply do not share the Member's, to my mind, deeply prejudiced set of views about people who we have been lucky enough to attract from other parts of the world to come and make their futures part of our future here. Our public services depend on them, our communities are richer for them being here, and I look forward to a future in which Wales goes on welcoming people from elsewhere and makes them know that they are valued members of our nation and the communities that make it up.