THE First Minister Mark Drakeford pledged to work with local authorities to support tourism in North Wales post Brexit.

He was speaking immediately prior to a Welsh Government cabinet meeting held in Llandudno Junction on Thursday February 21.

This was only the second time the cabinet has met in North Wales, the previous occasion was in 2011.

Mr Drakeford said: “I think it is quite difficult to assess the direct impact of Brexit on tourism. It might be varied.

If the economy goes into recession then people have less money in their pockets to spend on discretionary spend, which tourism certainly is, and that might have an adverse impact.

But Brexit may encourage more people to stay at home for their holidays and North Wales is fantastically well placed to go on attracting people to come and spend their leisure time here and to do more of that in future

“We are completely committed to working with local authorities and others in this part of Wales to be able to maximise the message they can give out to others to put the infrastructure in place in terms of transport and so on.

“I’ve been in Anglesey where tourism is a fundamentally important part of the economy, and there are many people working hard with imagination and determination to ensure that this part of Wales goes on being somewhere that attracts people to come, spend their money, stay here and go away telling other people what a great time they’ve had.”

Ken Stakes, Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales, said: “We have strong relationships, which have been built across North Wales over many years, these are crucial now as we work together to respond to the challenges of Brexit.

“Our commitment to North Wales is clear. We are making unprecedented investment in transport in the region, with £600m of developments planned. These include the Caernarfon to Bontnewydd bypass, with work now underway. We are moving ahead with the next stages of the third Menai crossing, which includes the appointment of technical advisers to develop the scheme in more detail with stakeholders and we are making progress with the vital A494-A55 Flintshire Corridor.”