Economic Forecasts

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:34 pm on 17 November 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:34, 17 November 2020

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.