3. What action is the Welsh Government taking to support the economy in Preseli Pembrokeshire? OQ59632

Llywydd, the Welsh Government supports the economy in the Member's constituency through investment in infrastructure, funding skills development for existing and emerging industries, and support for innovation in creating the jobs of the future.

First Minister, one way to support the economy in Pembrokeshire is to support our tourism sector. Now, a few weeks ago, you came to Pembrokeshire and said that the Welsh Government will,

'continue to work with communities, visitors, and businesses to achieve sustainable growth for tourism across Wales.'

Now, the businesses that I speak to, right across Preseli Pembrokeshire, are overwhelmingly against the Welsh Government's plans for a tourism tax and against changes to self-catering occupancy rates. In fact, you'll be aware of the recent comments by William McNamara of Bluestone National Park Resort, who said that,

'What we don't want to see is a turn-off to Wales because there is a tourism tax here'.

First Minister, how does the Welsh Government respond to genuine business concerns about its tourism policies like this, and what will the Welsh Government do to restore confidence to businesses in my constituency?

Llywydd, let me be clear with the Member and the businesses that speak to him. There is going to be a visitor levy in Wales, brought forward by the Welsh Government, and if it gets supported on the floor of the Senedd then that will be the democratic will of the Senedd itself. Those proposals are coming forward. My advice to businesses in his community is, instead of complaining to him about what is going to be happening, to work with the Welsh Government to design the levy in a way, as we believe it will do, to support the sector in his constituency and elsewhere.

What we are doing, Llywydd, is to engage with those businesses. We held a consultation in every part of Wales, including in his part of Wales, to hear the views of the sector, and there were many, many constructive voices in that consultation, helping us to shape this policy in a way, as I believe it will, to create new investment in those conditions that allow that industry to thrive. That is the point of the visitor levy. It is to collect a very small contribution from people who visit tourist destinations in Wales, to invest in the circumstances that have made those locations attractive to them in the first place. The policy of Mr Davies's party appears to be that the whole burden of that should fall on the people who live locally. They don't believe that. I don't believe it either. That's why the visitor levy will come in front of this Senedd.

Thank you very much to Paul Davies for raising this issue on economic development in Preseli Pembrokeshire. As we know, small businesses are facing a number of challenges at the moment, including poor public transport, digital connectivity, which is unreliable, and also a lack of banking services, to name but a few. But when businesses close in rural communities, like banks, post offices and shops, it can be very damaging indeed. But, it's encouraging that there are a number of examples, in Paul Davies's constituency, as it happens, of the community coming together to buy those assets and to create community businesses, such as Tafarn Sinc in Rosebush, the ironmonger Havards shop in Newport and, more recently, the community around Crymych has raised over £200,000 to buy the Crymych Arms as a community asset. So, last year, the Local Government and Housing Committee called on the Government to develop a range of measures to support communities to take control of these kinds of assets, and to follow the Scottish pattern, which is the community right to buy. Can I ask the First Minister, therefore, to introduce legislation of this kind in this Senedd?

I thank Cefin Campbell very much for making those points. The emphasis that we put on the foundational economy is part of what we do as a Government to support local people when, as Cefin Campbell said, they come together to create new businesses when the traditional operators have withdrawn from those communities. And we recognise, as a Government, the importance of supporting local people when they do come together to make that effort to buy assets, like the people of Crymych have done already. This is part of the work that the Minister is doing, and I'm sure that when there is an update to give to Senedd, there will be an opportunity to do that.