5. Will the First Minister make a statement on the impact of intergovernmental relations on public policy in Mid and West Wales? OQ55799

Llywydd, I made a statement and published the Welsh Government’s first annual report on inter-governmental relations last week. We continue to work with the other Governments within the United Kingdom to ensure our strategies and policies deliver for the people of Mid and West Wales and the country as a whole.

I thank the First Minister for that reply. The Welsh Government rightly protested to the UK Government that a disused army camp in a small village like Penally in Pembrokeshire is an unsuitable place to dump 140 illegal immigrants from the shores of Kent, but the Welsh Government's protests seem to have fallen on deaf ears. Isn't the Welsh Government more likely to be listened to if it works at building good relations with the UK Government rather than being confrontational and obstructive, as it did over Brexit, and hasn't the Welsh Government also compounded this problem by its virtue-signalling policy of Wales as a nation of sanctuary for illegal asylum seekers? It seems that the UK Government has simply taken the Welsh Government at its word in Penally. Isn't it true that because of their poor relations with each other, both Governments have failed the people of Pembrokeshire? 

Llywydd, I entirely reject the deliberately inflammatory words that the Member uses. These are not dumped illegal immigrants; they are human beings with a right to a life every bit as much as he has, or any one of us in this Senedd has either. It's utterly unacceptable to me that he should try to smear people who through no choice of their own find themselves being moved to deeply unsuitable accommodation. The Welsh Government has attempted throughout to influence a decision that is entirely in the hands of the UK Government—to influence it so that that setting is not used, and if it is to be used, then the services are there to make sure that the individuals who are housed there can be properly looked after, and that the legitimate concerns of the local community are properly addressed. The utterly insensitive handling of the Home Office lies at the root of the difficulties that are being experienced, and that's where the responsibility begins and ends. This Government will speak up for people who find themselves in that position, because we are a nation of sanctuary. We'll go on being a nation of sanctuary, and that extends not just to people who we happen to like, but to people whoever they are and wherever they come from, and that is the difference between the philosophy of my party and that sort of stony-hearted view of the world that the Member continually parades in front of us whenever he has the opportunity.

First Minister, I think, actually, I will not ask the question I was going to, but I think I need to follow up on the observations made by the previous Member. We all recognise that we are in a very difficult world. We all understand that there are many people who flee to our shores for all sorts of reasons, whether it's because they are incredibly poor, or their lives are in danger. I feel great sympathy with the UK Government in that they have to find homes for these people, places for them to stay. They're in short supply and we have to step up to the mark. I'd like to take this opportunity, First Minister, to thank the people of Pembrokeshire who've been so kind and so welcoming to the asylum seekers who have found themselves in the Penally camp. I'd like to thank the local organisations who've stepped forward to try to help wherever they can. I would urge the UK Government to try to find better accommodation as soon as they possibly can, whilst recognising that we have an unprecedented number of asylum seekers looking for sanctuary in the UK. And I would absolutely like to refute all and any suggestion that these are people who should be dumped, who should be marginalised and who should be treated badly. It isn't their fault that they are in the position they're in, and I think that the people of Pembrokeshire have proven themselves to be exceptionally welcoming. I would like to finally ask that people who do not live in Pembrokeshire who insist on marching down to demonstrate outside the Penally camp refrain from doing so.

Llywydd, can I thank Angela Burns very much for that contribution and for everything that I know she has done locally to try to make sure that people's—? As I said, the legitimate concerns of people who live locally need to be addressed, but they need to be addressed in exactly the spirit that Angela Burns, as the local Member, has just provided this afternoon. I entirely agree with her; there are fantastic organisations and individuals in Pembrokeshire who want to reach out, who want to make sure that people who end up—not by any decision of theirs—in that community do have a sense of kindness and of welcoming. And it is precisely the sort of question that we had from Neil Hamilton that leads to people coming from elsewhere, because it is deliberately designed to exploit people's fears. It is deliberately designed to bring people from elsewhere to make the lives of the people at the camp and in the local community more difficult than they otherwise would be. I entirely associate myself with what Angela Burns said about rejecting in the strongest possible way everything that those people try to do.