Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:04 pm on 7 March 2023.
Good afternoon, First Minister. I concur with the comments made by my colleague Joyce Watson and with yourself as well in terms of Brexit and its damage to the competitiveness of our Welsh ports. I just find it surprising that our colleagues in the Conservative Party, in their condemnation of the roads review, say that Wales is closed to business. Well, actually, you've closed Wales to business through taking us out of the EU. Our Welsh ports have been damaged significantly by trade and traffic, and for that I think you should at least own up, if not be ashamed of yourselves.
But I do want to talk about another aspect, if I may, of our Welsh ports, and that is our access to wind energy. We know that there are specific developments—for example, in my region in Pembrokeshire, where we see Blue Gem Wind energy actually developing our access to that wind energy. We reckon that there will be about 10,000 jobs developed. One of the big issues, though, is accessing permits for that development, and I just wonder whether you could comment on that, please, First Minister. Diolch yn fawr iawn.