Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy and Transport – in the Senedd at 1:56 pm on 22 January 2020.

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Photo of Helen Mary Jones Helen Mary Jones Plaid Cymru 1:56, 22 January 2020

Well, I'm slightly disappointed, Llywydd, that the Minister didn't hear what I said, because I said that I very much hope that this would be successful, but I think there are concerns. The Minister has to acknowledge that there are concerns. Aston Martin is saddled with a $1 billion debt, it finished last year with just £138 million in cash, and that doesn't sound to me like a company that we can be 100 per cent sure is secure.

Now, I would put it to the Minister that this type of investment really reflects a kind of old-fashioned approach to where we need to spend our economic development money. Flagship companies may have their place, but surely we should be putting this level of investment—as the Deputy Minister has said in the past, the old-fashioned approach of bringing big international companies in doesn't work terribly well, and I would agree that we need to be focusing our investment into growing middle-sized companies, into looking at the contribution of the foundation economy and the green economy.

So, if the Minister is so confident that the future of Aston Martin is secure—and I hope he's right, let me make that absolutely clear, and so does everybody else on these benches—I must press the Minister to publish his correspondence with Aston Martin prior to setting up the deal. I completely understand that there may be ongoing conversations that are commercially confidential, but once the deal has been sealed, these things ought to be in the public domain so that we can all scrutinise this level of investment and be sure that it is as secure as the Minister would have us believe, which I very much hope it is.