HC Deb 07 March 1983 vol 38 c549
5. Mr. Dalyell

asked the Secretary of State for Wales whether he will consider using Welsh sporting occasions to encourage foreign inward investment in Wales

Mr. Nicholas Edwards

All appropriate occasions, sporting or otherwise, are used to promote the attractions of Wales as the ideal location for overseas investment.

Mr. Dalyell

Are not the Welsh not only more eloquent but more intelligent and realistic about the outside world than the southern English? Is it not a fact that, for many years, rugby teams from Argentina have come to play against Welsh teams in sporting events? Is it not also true that, in cultural matters, there have been many visitors from Welsh communities in Argentina to eisteddfods? In those circumstances, will the Secretary of State say what he has done in Cabinet to achieve a realist policy towards a Falkland Islands solution? Would it not be better for—

Mr. Speaker

Order. Fair play. The hon. Member for West Lothian (Mr. Dalyell) must confine himself to foreign inward investment in Wales.

Mr. Dalyell

—by the transfer of responsibility for the Falklands from the Foreign Office and Downing street to the Welsh Office?

Mr. Edwards

I know of no proposals for inward investment from Argentina at present, but I can tell the hon. Gentleman that the Welsh rugby side, by its defeats of Scotland and Ireland, has shown just the type of team spirit, competence and enterprise that will attract to Wales inward investment from all over the world.