3. What action will be taken to prevent the UK internal market Bill from restricting the Welsh Government's efforts to transform the well-being of people in Wales? OQ55769

Llywydd, I thank Jenny Rathbone for that. We have published a set of model amendments to demonstrate how to safeguard the UK internal market without the unnecessary restrictions on devolved competence that this Bill would introduce. We will work intensively to gain cross-party support in the House of Lords and to persuade the UK Government to think again.

I heed the words of Baroness Ilora Finlay, a cross-party Member of the House of Lords and a very eminent clinician, that the internal market Bill would allow our country to be overrun by chlorinated chicken and other adulterated food manufactured in the United States, and that is a recipe for obesity and shortened lives. But, having been told we wouldn't get a penny less for Wales if we voted to leave the EU, would this Bill also enable the UK Government to divert the money Wales previously received from EU structural funds for universities, for businesses and strengthening communities through our voluntary sector, in order to spend it on something else altogether, depriving Wales of vital investment funds? What is to stop the so-called shared prosperity fund becoming more largesse for Serco and the Boston Consulting Group, those geniuses who run the English test and trace system?

Well, Llywydd, I'm afraid the sad answer is that there's nothing to stop that from happening. In fact, this Bill opens the door to exactly that. I'm very grateful indeed to Baroness Finlay—as Jenny Rathbone said, a really distinguished cross-bencher in the House of Lords—for her assistance to us in getting our amendments, amendments supported by Plaid Cymru peers, by Liberal Democrat peers, by cross-bench peers and others in the House of Lords—to make sure that those amendments are being laid for debate. The points that Baroness Finlay makes are the ones that Jenny Rathbone has echoed here. This is a Bill that means that this Senedd couldn't prevent food being sold in Wales that is produced to below the standards that people in Wales enjoy today; couldn't even allow us to require that food to be labelled so that Welsh citizens would know what it is that they are being offered; couldn't prevent that food from being produced to lower animal health standards; wouldn't allow us to carry out our plan to ban nine different types of single-use plastics; couldn't allow us to require headteachers, as we do today, to have the level of professional qualification we currently require them to have in Wales. And over and above all of that, it takes away the ability of this Senedd and our partners in Wales to make the decisions about where money for economic development, which has made such a difference—those decisions will not be made in Wales, where they ought to be made, but behind a desk in Whitehall. It really is a dog's breakfast of a Bill. We are working hard, alongside others, to try to put those problems right, and I'm grateful for the support we're getting in the House of Lords, right across the spectrum there, to do exactly that.

First Minister, obviously, in many debates in the House of Commons, it's been identified that not one single power will be removed from the Assembly because of this Bill—or shall I say the Welsh Parliament. You said in an earlier response to another question that powers would be being removed. Could you list the powers that you believe this Bill will remove?

Well, I just did, Llywydd. I don't know whether the Member was listening at all. I've just explained to him that the powers we have today to prevent food being sold in Wales at a standard below that which we, the Senedd, have deemed right for Wales—that power is being taken away from us. The power that we have to require food to be properly labelled—that power is being taken away from us. The power to sustain animal health standards in Wales—that power is being taken away from us. The power to ban single-use plastics in Wales—that power is being taken away from us. The power to set professional qualification standards for teachers in our schools and headteachers—that's being taken away from us. What more powers does he want me to list?

The Welsh Government has recently said it will be joining the Wellbeing Economy Alliance—a move that we've welcomed—and this is meant to place well-being at the centre of economic decisions. With this in mind, what can the Welsh Government do if spending decisions taken by the UK Government as a result of this Bill have an adverse impact on well-being indicators in Wales, such as health, the environment and sustainability? Does being part of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance take a backwards step if the UK Government determines that they don't like what we're doing? And if that's the case, First Minister, what discussions will the Welsh Government be having with other partners in the alliance to explain that Westminster can trample over our good intentions?

I thank Delyth Jewell for that, Llywydd. Wales is a relatively recent member of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance. I'm very glad indeed to have been invited to do so. Of course, Delyth Jewell is right—other members of the alliance are also adversely affected by this Bill. Our efforts at this point are concentrated on turning the Bill back, rather than dealing with its adverse consequences, because that is the better way to solve this problem—to convince the UK Government, through the actions we will take, working with others, not to inflict that harm on us in the first place. Because that harm will be felt not just directly in Wales in terms of the things that we would want to do, but it will affect our ability to work with others to advance those simple but progressive causes that have done so much to protect people here in Wales—to protect them from adulterated food, to protect animal health standards, to advance a genuinely environmental agenda here in Wales. We don't want to see that, people in Wales don't want to see that, and we will work with others, as I've said, not just in Wales, but in the alliance as well, to go on making that case.