1. Will the First Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government's economic projections for 2021 in South Wales Central? OQ55859

Llywydd, the chief economist’s report, to be published alongside the budget, will provide an assessment of economic prospects in all parts of Wales.

Thank you, First Minister, for that answer. Two weeks ago, Welsh Government brought forward the business development grant that had to be suspended after 24 hours. I appreciate that does show a sign of demand out in the economy, and in particular in South Wales Central. As a regional Member, I've been contacted by businesses across the region who obviously found it very frustrating, after putting a huge amount of time and effort into their plans, that the scheme was either suspended or oversubscribed, depending on which message you received. Can you give any confidence that those businesses that were unfortunate not to get in before that 24-hour deadline closed will be able to resubmit their bids in the coming weeks and months ahead and gain that support to take them into 2021 from the Welsh Government?

Llywydd, I thank Andrew R.T. Davies for that supplementary question, and, of course, he is right that there are many, many businesses in South Wales Central, and in other parts of Wales, who've looked to the third phase of the economic resilience fund for assistance. In terms of the £200 million lockdown business grants, 22,000 grants, worth over £61 million, have already been paid out. And in relation to the £100 million business development grant aspect, where there were 6,000 applicants on that first day, hundreds of payments have already been made, and millions of pounds have already been paid out. We are, of course, looking to see whether it is possible, by drawing funds from other parts of the ERF where maybe the demand hasn't been so great, or looking to see what possibilities there may be later in the year to supplement the business development grant strand of phase 3 in order to allow other businesses who weren't able to get their application in in that first 6,000 to benefit further from the fund. 

First Minister, we don't have any clarity or certainty yet whether the UK Government is going to be able to negotiate an EU trade agreement, and we don't know whether there's going to be any further support for businesses. We see that sectors like the aviation sector in my constituency have been abandoned by the UK Government. We've lost jobs in avionics, at BAMC, GE and many others, and, at the same time, the UK Government is rolling over a whole series of trade agreements internationally with very little scrutiny, if any at all, in Westminster, and this is causing controversy. I'm wondering what steps are being taken by the Welsh Government to ensure that Welsh interests are protected in those trade agreements, because they do affect Welsh manufacturing, Welsh agriculture and, ultimately, Welsh jobs. 

Llywydd, I thank Mick Antoniw for that. He's right to point to the absence of sector-specific assistance in some very important parts of the Welsh economy. Steel is uppermost in our minds at this point, given Friday's announcement, and it really is imperative that the UK Government come to the table with a sector deal for steel that will protect jobs here in Wales, but also protect the UK economy. If Britain is to be a globally trading nation, then we can't expect to do that without as foundational a sector as steel available indigenously within the United Kingdom.

Of course, Mick Antoniw is right, Llywydd, that the UK Government is using prerogative powers in Parliament as a way of bypassing scrutiny on trade deals, and no wonder that they are in trouble on that. Constitutionally, surely, they want to involve devolved Governments in those discussions, and not to rely on brute constitutional force in order to impose deals on other parts of the UK, which we could have helped in a constructive way, by providing the information that we have and they don't, to make those trade deals suitable for all parts of the country. I agree with Mick Antoniw that, at the heart of this, is a set of underlying attitudes towards devolution in the United Kingdom, as we saw so spectacularly with the Prime Minister's very ill-judged comments overnight.