Business Minister, may I call for a statement on the Welsh Government's reaction to the devastating news that Debenhams stores will now be closing across our country? Its closure and its plans to regenerate our towns and cities is a matter of urgency now. The closure of Debenhams stores across our country, following their takeover from Boohoo, means a loss of hundreds of jobs and will be a severe blow to cities, such as Newport, where Debenhams is the pivotal anchor store within the Friar's Walk city development, Cardiff and Swansea, where the store also forms part of the heart of the city's Quadrant shopping centre.

This is obviously devastating enough, but obviously during the pandemic the knock-on effect of these closures will mean people are hit even harder. It comes at a time when businesses in Wales remain in a precarious position and are suffering immense damage caused by the pandemic, despite grants. Figures produced by the Welsh Retail Consortium reveal that one in five shops in Wales are now empty; the vacancy rates increased from 15.9 per cent to 18 per cent in the third quarter of last year, the largest jump anywhere in the UK.

Big shop closures, such as Debenhams, have a massive impact on local communities and our high streets will now look rundown and blighted. Friar's Walk in Newport is a relatively new development and it was very welcomed at the time when it was first brought there by the Conservative-led Newport City Council. Since then, it's been diminishing—