Economy Secretary Ken Skates has pledged that post-referendum, Wales will remain a great place to do business.
Speaking at a keynote address at the Institute of Welsh Affairs – Doing Business in Wales event, Mr Skates emphasised Wales will continue to be an open, responsive and business friendly country.
He stressed his priority now was to maintain economic confidence and stability and protect jobs.
In addition to Mr Skates’ comments, GE Aviation Wales, based in Nantgarw has said it is committed to Wales and will not be leaving, while another high-end employer, pharmaceutical Norgine, has said it has no immediate plans to change its investment strategy.
Mr Skates said: “Wales’ economy has developed hugely over recent years and now boasts a strong international reputation as a place to come and invest.
“Already this year announcements from Aston Martin, MotoNovo, TVR, Essentra, EE and BT have demonstrated our growing reputation as a magnetic country to locate to and trade from.
“This is partly down to our open, responsive and business-friendly approach. We remain committed to this, to developing Welsh business and to working with new partners to draw in investment.
“Post-referendum my priority is protecting jobs and doing everything in my power to maintain economic confidence and stability.”
The Economy Secretary said the Welsh Government would build on Wales’ excellent relationships with Welsh businesses and inward investors, and play a full part in discussions about the timing and terms of withdrawal from the EU.
He stressed Welsh Government would be negotiating to retain access to the 500 million customers in the EU Single Market, and to continued participation in major EU programmes to 2020 while arrangements are made for the longer-term.
GE Aviation Wales, which employs more than 1,000 staff at its Nantgarw base, has said it is committed to Wales.
Jeffrey R Immelt, Chairman and CEO of GE said: “Although GE supported the UK remaining in the EU, we respect the decision of the British people and remain firmly committed to the UK and Europe. GE has 22,000 employees in the UK and 100,000 employees in Europe overall that will continue to focus on delivering great outcomes for our customers.
“We believe in the potential to build a competitive Europe and UK through digital transformation and manufacturing.”
A spokeswoman for Norgine, which employs around 350 at its base in Hengoed, said: “Norgine’s working assumption is that the terms of any Brexit will include tariff free trade of medicines and medical devices, sufficient movement of people to enable Norgine to operate and the practical adoption by the UK of EU regulations relevant to our sector.
“We will remain vigilant as the situation evolves but have no immediate plans to stop ongoing projects and re-deploy our investment.”
No it’s not actually Mr Skates, and how much did the Welsh government pay to bribe Aston Martin to move into Wales, on the strength of a new state of the art racetrack being built in Blaenua Gwent which has also attracted another great English sports car maker TVR into Wales, yet the Welsh government still refuse to back the project which has the potential to create some 6000 jobs and be a fantastic attraction for Wales bringing in many millions of pounds to the local economy. The message that the Welsh government is sending out is that Wales is certainly not a great place to do business, they say one thing but do another.
Mr. Skates says,
“Welsh Government would be negotiating to retain access to the 500 million customers in the EU Single Market”
This seems to me to be misunderstanding what it means for Britain to be once more independent. We don’t need to negotiate with the EU bosses, we will have the same access as China, India, Australia, Canada and a long list of other countries that trade with the EU – full stop.
It is true that the EU may impose tariffs but these are regulated by the World Trade Organisation and any tariff applied to British goods would almost certainly result in a similar tariff being applied, by Britain, to EU products. As the EU sells far more to Britain than the other way around it would be foolish to do so. The unelected EU rulers may well wish to punish Britain for daring to defy them but the car workers of Germany and the farmers of France will be against any moves that endanger their jobs.
That’s pretty much the gist of it Councillor. We buy more stuff than we sell at the moment so we hold all the cards.
Yes absolutely; I am currently drinking Australian wine bought at Asda locally. Australia is not in the EU, does not have a trade agreement with the EU and does not accept any EU citizens as immigrants that are not required. They still have access to the single market.