Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:48 pm on 22 October 2019.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:48, 22 October 2019

Well, Llywydd, the degree of short sightedness expressed in that question is breathtaking, as well as the degree of ignorance about basic business models. You can't pay nurses out of capital loans, can you? The idea that you can is absurd. You clearly could not possibly do so. The money that we have provided to Cardiff Airport, if you totalled it all up, if you total every penny of it up, is less than his Government is spending on an advertising campaign about Brexit. Where is the money for nurses and doctors coming out of that £100 million, I wonder?

Llywydd, there are 4,300 airports in the world from which scheduled flights are part of their operation—4,300. Of those, 14 per cent are in private ownership. So, Cardiff Airport is in the same position as JFK airport in New York, Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, as Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris. The model that we have in Wales is the model replicated around the world. It makes sure that the Welsh public has an airport that they need, that its economy needs, and we will invest to make it a success, where he would have closed it down.