No special treatment for Wales

I was appalled, because no doubt his earnest desire to see a thriving Welsh construction industry is based on the belief that this means excluding everybody else from working in Wales. I was not surprised because this sort of thinking is endemic in many areas of Welsh political life and has been for many years.

As a Welsh building surveyor working on a major regeneration scheme in north London, I am part of a multidisciplinary, multiracial team. Are we all now to expect a knock on the door at midnight with immigration officers ready to remove us and forcibly repatriate us?

If so, who will pay my Severn Bridge toll to return to my homeland?

I am unhappy that Cairns seems to imply that Welsh construction companies are not good enough to win contracts in an open competition. Are Welsh companies so weak that they need biased treatment to win work? I wonder what Welsh construction workers and managers think of that.

I am proud of being Welsh and proud of the fact that I work for a company that employs me on the basis of equal opportunity, merit and performance and not on race. The only racial tension in this office occurs when Wales play England at rugby, and even then nobody objects to the black draped leek on my desk!

Why don't we just grow up and get on with the job? After all, there's enough work to do.