Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:41 pm on 13 December 2022.
Well, Llywydd, the identity question in the census is a very interesting one, and the results that it shows, I think, are definitely worth proper exploration. Now, why do we see some of the changes that the Member referred to? Well, we know that the number of deaths over the last decade exceeded the number of births that took place in Wales. So, the growth in the population in Wales comes exclusively from people who have not been living in Wales moving into Wales. Twenty-three thousand more people born in England were recorded as living in Wales in the 2021 census than as in 2011. They're very, very heavily concentrated in two local authorities in Wales: they live in Flintshire and they live in Newport. In other words, they live right by the border, and they're people whose lives are fluid, living in one place, working in another, and it's no surprise, therefore, that they bring that sense of their identity with them. I think those figures are worth serious debate. I would say that they reinforce what this party—my party—has always believed, that what people in Wales benefit from is strong devolution, with the capacity of this Senedd to make decisions on the things that affect only people in Wales, but benefit as well from being in the United Kingdom. That's always been the policy of my party, and I'm very happy to reinforce it again this afternoon.