Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:17 pm on 2 February 2021.
Thank you, First Minister, and, as you know, I've spoken before in the Senedd about how, as a young person from a deprived community who'd never even had a foreign holiday before, I was able to study at the University of Paris thanks to funding and support from the Erasmus programme. There seems to be little doubt that the Turing programme will be a very inferior successor, and there are real fears that, thanks to the UK Government's spiteful, self-defeating and totally unnecessary decision to withdraw from Erasmus+, many young people in Wales will lose out, especially those who are most disadvantaged. Now, there has been some speculation that a way can be found to enable young people in Wales and Scotland to continue to participate in Erasmus, which is something I wholeheartedly welcome. Can the First Minister update the Senedd on any discussions in this regard, and can he assure me that he will pursue every possible avenue to enable Welsh young people to continue to participate in this life-changing scheme?