As outlined by Paul Davies, who of course opened today's debate—a really important debate about the stewardship of the Welsh economy—we are seeing the poor stewardship of our economy by the Labour Party in Government here in Wales, with the highest business rates in the United Kingdom, the lowest weekly wages, and the lowest amount of disposable household income in the UK. These statistics are truly shocking.

So, in my contribution today, Llywydd, I'd like to focus on just three brief areas that I will outline where I see the Labour Government here failing the Welsh economy.

The first one is particular to my region of North Wales and how the Government's neglect for my region has led to a north-south divide. Whatever economic statistics we could look at, the north Wales economy continues to lag behind the rest of Wales. One such example is around GVA. Cardiff has about double the GVA per head of some of the areas in north Wales. When it comes to transport, the Welsh Government's metro project is another prime example where we're seeing a lack of investment, earmarked investment, into north Wales. Mabon ap Gwynfor—oh, he just disappeared—mentioned the importance of infrastructure and the difference that that can make to the economy, and we're not seeing that investment in north Wales at the rate that we should do. It's £750 million that's earmarked for the metro in south Wales, and it's £50 million for north Wales. 

Another area where we see a north-south divide and a real missed opportunity, in my view—you may shake your head, Minister, but it's a real missed opportunity—is around investment in sport. The economy around sport and the potential around sport is huge. We're currently seeing one professional sports team flourishing in north Wales, which is great to see, but that's nothing near some of the investment we see in south Wales, with the national sporting events predominantly held in the south. There's a great opportunity for Welsh Government to promote sport in north Wales and promote that part of the economy. 

The second area that I believe needs continuous attention is the importance of tourism to the Welsh economy. I'm grateful to the Minister for looking to attend the cross-party group on tourism later this month, and I did contribute to the debate last week, outlining how crucial it is to the Welsh economy, with so many people enjoying our attractions, spending their money—all of this supporting around 140,000 jobs. Minister, I think you'll probably hear from attendees at the cross-party group next week the challenge they had through the pandemic. And yes, they're grateful for the support they received through that time, but also looking to the future, to the support that they want and a celebration of them as a sector and the work that they do in this country. What they don't want is more taxation; what they don't want are more restrictions around them in terms of making the most of their businesses and employing more people here in Wales. 

The third area, the final area that I just want to touch on briefly, Llywydd, has already been mentioned, this anti-business stance, causing some businesses to struggle in Wales, and it's having a detrimental effect on our economy. It's already been mentioned, an example of this, around business rates. What we must see are business rates being reduced, not business rates in Wales that are the highest in the United Kingdom. This is surely contributing to the fact that Welsh shops—