First Minister, MS: I was pleased to welcome
political leaders to Wales for the 44th meeting
of the British-Irish Council on 4 and 5 December which was held
in the Vale of Glamorgan. The theme of this summit was ‘A
Creative Future: Unlocking the Potential of the Creative
Industries Across These Islands'. Given the theme of the summit,
I was joined at the summit by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy,
Energy and Planning and the Minister for Culture, Skills and
Social Partnership. A joint Communiqué was issued after the
meeting, which is available here.
This summit provided the opportunity to showcase Wales's world
class innovation and production within the creative industries
sectors, including representation from screen (Bad Wolf
Productions; and ), music (Nancy and Harry Nolan-Hampson; Quartet
Draig) digital (Rarebit Studios; Rocket Science; Wales
Interactive) and publishing (Professor Mererid Hopwood).
I chaired the summit plenary session which focused in particular
on the screen sector. The discussion provided an opportunity to
share experiences across the governments represented, recognising
the creative industries as vital to economic growth, cultural
identity, and international influence while acknowledging
challenges such as funding, skills development, employment
uncertainty, digital transformation and the impact of artificial
intelligence.
The Minister for Culture, Skills and Social Partnership outlined
recent progress in Wales, highlighting the achievements of
Creative Wales, our dedicated government agency for the creative
industries. Since its launch in 2020, Creative Wales has provided
bespoke production funding and delivered significant economic
returns – over £419 million from an investment of £33 million.
More than 27,000 people and over 300 companies have benefited
from the first round of the Creative Wales Skills Fund. The
Minister also highlighted our efforts to promote diversity
through partnerships and apprenticeship schemes and stressed our
commitment to collaboration to overcome shared barriers and
unlock growth. In addition, he emphasised the importance of fair
access to UK-wide funding, reform of the UK screen tax regime,
and a regulatory framework to ensure the sustainability of public
service broadcasting. In commenting on the rapid shift in media
consumption patterns, the Minister noted that Wales is leading in
internet-connected TV adoption and daily video viewing.
The plenary session also provided an opportunity to reflect on
latest political developments across the governments represented
and also globally. In opening the discussion, I noted progress in
the Middle East since the previous meeting while recognising that
much work remains to secure a stable and lasting peace in
Palestine. However, I expressed concern about the ongoing
suffering of the people of Ukraine and the increasing hostility
from Russia towards Europe. I supported progress on EU/UK trade
talks, which are particularly important for Wales given our high
proportion of exports to the EU, and noted concerns about the
impact of US tariffs, which affect Wales more than other parts of
the UK due to our export profile. The discussion gave me a
further opportunity to welcome announcements in the recent UK
Government Budget, including support for people on low incomes,
the lifting of the two-child benefit cap, and increases in the
minimum and living wage, all of which will benefit thousands of
people across Wales. On top of this I noted the recent UK
Government announcement that Wales will host the first small
modular nuclear reactors and two AI growth zones.
In addition to the formal plenary discussion the summit enabled a
range of bilateral discussions across the governments
represented. The next BIC Summit will be hosted by the Government
of Guernsey in summer 2026.
