English: In the absence of my colleague and the Plaid Cymru spokesperson on the economy, it's my pleasure to participate in this important debate and to make a few comments. Without doubt, there are some elements of the strategy that we would welcome: a new emphasis on the foundation economy, decarbonisation and the decision to encourage businesses to be more responsible if they are to receive Government support. The strategy also refers to automation and the challenges that automation can pose for our economy. Automation has the potential to devolve jobs in important sectors to us in Wales, such as manufacturing and processing, but also retail, which is the largest sector in Wales in terms of the size of the workforce. For our economy to grow and develop, we must understand what our unique, competitive advantages are as a nation. Wearing my hat as a health spokesperson, with a population that is growing older more swiftly than the rest of the UK, Wales is strongly positioned to innovate in that area, in promoting more use of technology, for example, in improving the care available. But I'm not here as health spokesperson today. In reading the strategy, you will see that there is a failure here to note where and how to make the most of the unique opportunities available to us as a nation. It feels somehow like a document that provides a commentary rather than a comprehensive strategy that explains how the Government intends to overturn our economic decline. For an economic strategy to work, we need strong institutions to implement that strategy. When I was Plaid Cymru's spokesperson on the economy before the last election, I had an opportunity to outline clearly our vision and the steps that we would wish to see taken to build the Welsh economy. Having an economic development agency for Wales was a central part of the vision that I was espousing at that time, and at arm's-length, I think, is the best place to create that capacity and also to focus the expertise required to draw up and implement such a strategy. After the election, and specifically following the vote on our membership of the European Union, we called for a regional focus on the challenge of developing the economy in order to focus on ways and means of developing the economies of areas of Wales that quite simply have been left behind and know that they have been left behind. The Government strategy does commit to a model of economic development based regionally, and in order to achieve that, the Government wishes to develop three main regional offices to deal with this. Other than that, there is no talk of the other things that are required; the national institutions that would, in partnership, deliver the objectives of the strategy. I think the institutional hinterland that exists in Wales - the development bank is an exception perhaps - does mean that we as a nation aren't striking the right chord. Until this Government creates the kinds of economic institutions that other nations have - development agencies, promotion agencies, trade and investment, a national innovative body - as Plaid Cymru has been calling for, no strategy has any hope of delivering its objectives. I will close if I may by making a few comments that would have been just as relevant to the previous debate this afternoon, on this uncompromising focus by the Conservatives and Labour on merging the regions of Wales with the regions of England. Across the globe, cross-border economic relations are very important, and that is true of Wales between the north-east of Wales and the north-west of England, and likewise in the south-east of Wales and the south-west of England, but don't be misled -
Welsh: Yn absenoldeb fy nghydweithiwr a llefarydd Plaid Cymru ar yr economi, fy mhleser i ydy cael cymryd rhan yn y ddadl bwysig yma ac i wneud ychydig o sylwadau. Mae yna, heb os, rai elfennau o'r strategaeth sydd i'w croesawu: y pwyslais newydd ar yr economi sylfaenol, datgarboneiddio, er enghraifft, a'r penderfyniad hefyd i hybu busnesau i fod yn fwy cyfrifol os ydyn nhw am dderbyn cefnogaeth gan y Llywodraeth. Mae'r strategaeth hefyd yn cyfeirio droeon at awtomatiaeth, yr heriau y gall awtomatiaeth eu creu i'n heconomi ni. Mae gan awtomatiaeth y potensial i ddadleoli swyddi mewn sectorau pwysig iawn i ni yng Nghymru, fel gweithgynhyrchu a phrosesu, ond hefyd manwerthu, sef y sector fwyaf yng Nghymru o ran nifer y gweithwyr. Er mwyn i'n heconomi ni dyfu a datblygu, mae'n rhaid i ni ddeall beth ydy ein manteision cystadleuol unigryw ni fel cenedl. Gan wisgo fy het llefarydd iechyd am eiliad, efo poblogaeth sy'n heneiddio ar raddfa gyflymach na gweddill y Deyrnas Unedig, mae Cymru mewn sefyllfa dda i arloesi yn y maes hwnnw, o bosibl, wrth hybu mwy o ddefnydd o dechnoleg, er enghraifft, i wella'r gofal sydd ar gael. Ond nid yma fel llefarydd iechyd ydw i heddiw. O ddarllen y strategaeth, mi welwch chi fod yna fethiant yma, rydw i'n meddwl, i nodi lle mae a sut mae gwneud y mwyaf o'r cyfleoedd unigryw economaidd sydd gan ein cenedl ni. Yn hytrach, mae'n teimlo rhywsut fel dogfen sy'n sylwebu yn hytrach na chynnig strategaeth gynhwysfawr sy'n egluro sut y mae'r Llywodraeth yn bwriadu gwrthdroi ein dirywiad economaidd ni. Er mwyn i strategaeth economaidd lwyddo, mae'n rhaid cael sefydliadau cryf i weithredu'r strategaeth honno. Pan oeddwn i'n llefarydd Plaid Cymru ar yr economi cyn etholiad diwethaf y Cynulliad, mi gefais i gyfle i amlinellu yn glir ein gweledigaeth ni ar gamau y byddem ni'n dymuno eu gweld ar gyfer adeiladu economi Cymru. Mi oedd cael asiantaeth ddatblygu economaidd newydd yn rhan ganolog o'r weledigaeth y bûm i'n sôn amdani bryd hynny, ac o hyd braich, rydw i'n meddwl, y mae'r lle gorau i greu y capasiti a chrynhoi hefyd, rhoi ffocws i'r arbenigedd sydd ei angen i lunio a gweithredu strategaeth o'r fath. Ar ôl yr etholiad, yn benodol yn dilyn y bleidlais ar aelodaeth yr Undeb Ewropeaidd, mi wnaethom ni alw wedyn am roi ffocws rhanbarthol ar yr her o ddatblygu'r economi er mwyn canolbwyntio ar ffyrdd o wella economïau ardaloedd yng Nghymru sy'n syml iawn wedi cael - ac yn gwybod eu bod nhw wedi cael - eu gadael ar ôl. Mae'r strategaeth gan y Llywodraeth yn ymrwymo i fodel datblygu economaidd ar sail rhanbarthol, ac er mwyn gwireddu hynny mae'r Llywodraeth am sefydlu tri phrif swyddog rhanbarthol i arwain y strategaethau yn y rhanbarthau newydd. Ond heblaw am hynny, nid oes yna ddim sôn am yr haenau eraill sydd eu hangen; y sefydliadau economaidd cenedlaethol a fydd, mewn partneriaeth, yn gweithredu amcanion y strategaeth. Rwy'n meddwl bod y diffeithwch sefydliadol sy'n bodoli yng Nghymru - mae banc datblygu Cymru yn eithriad efallai - yn golygu ein bod ni, fel cenedl, yn methu â tharo'r traw cywir. Tan i'r Llywodraeth greu y mathau o sefydliadau economaidd sydd gan wledydd eraill - asiantaethau datblygu a hyrwyddo, masnach a buddsoddiad, corff arloesi cenedlaethol - sef rhywbeth y mae Plaid Cymru wedi bod yn galw amdano fo, nid oes gan unrhyw strategaeth o unrhyw safon ddim gobaith, rydw i'n meddwl, o gyflawni ei nod. Gwnaf i gloi os caf i drwy wneud ychydig o sylwadau a allai fod wedi bod yr un mor berthnasol yn y ddadl ddiwethaf gawsom ni yma y prynhawn yma, sef y ffocws diddiwedd a digyfaddawd gan Lafur a'r Ceidwadwyr ar uno rhanbarthau Cymru efo rhanbarthau yn Lloegr. Dros y byd i gyd, mae perthynas economaidd trawsffiniol yn bwysig iawn, iawn, ac mae hynny'n wir yng Nghymru rhwng gogledd-ddwyrain Cymru a gogledd-orllewin Lloegr, ardal dde-ddwyrain Cymru a gorllewin Lloegr, ond peidiwch â chael eich twyllo mai -