Jeremy Miles: Well, she may feel that she works and lives in a bubble; I certainly don't feel that. The point about the Act is it makes a very real difference to people's weekly shop. So, if you're interested in making sure that food is of the standard that Welsh producers and Welsh consumers are accustomed to, this Act poses a threat to that. If you're interested in making sure that we don't pollute our...
Jeremy Miles: Well, I've been clear on this in many contexts, that I believe that we should have as many powers as the people of Wales aspire to have in Wales under the control of this Parliament and this Government, in terms of ministerial responsibilities, here in Wales. So, that's certainly a principle, I would say, that is non-contentious these days. What we have seen after the efforts of the...
Jeremy Miles: It's clear that the Act creates uncertainty in terms of the Senedd's ability to legislate. Therefore, I have issued formal proceedings in the administrative court here in Cardiff seeking permission for judicial review in terms of its impact on our Senedd.
Jeremy Miles: Well, the responsibility for the new obstacles to export and freight through our ports is the direct consequence of the UK Government's political priorities in the trade and co-operation agreement with the European Union. There obviously were new obstacles to trade introduced on 1 January. What I would say though is that we've put in place, as a Government, plans to handle the transport and...
Jeremy Miles: Well, I thank David Melding for that question that highlights a very important issue. He will be aware, of course, of the equivalent to the trusted trader schemes that have been introduced as part of the new arrangements. However, generally speaking, those tend to be larger companies rather than many of the smaller and medium-sized companies that his question is concerned about and that,...
Jeremy Miles: We recently published a new export action plan, which sets out the support available to Welsh exporters to help them understand and navigate the new barriers to exporting to the EU as a result of the decision to leave the customs union and the deal negotiated by the UK Government.
Jeremy Miles: I'd be glad to take up Janet Finch-Saunders's invitation, and, forgive me, I was assuming that she was aware of the contents of the end of transition action plan, which stipulates in quite close detail everything that we're doing. But, anyway, I'll refer her to the contents of that for detail. On the specific point that she makes, I myself found it rather offensive to describe these as...
Jeremy Miles: Well, we continue to work with the agriculture sector and, indeed, every other to understand the new barriers to trade that the UK Government's political choices have imposed upon them. I think it's important for the Member, in acknowledging the existence of a zero-tariff, zero-quota deal, to be quite clear sighted about the fact that the complexity in the trading relationship between our...
Jeremy Miles: Can I first welcome Janet Finch-Saunders to her new responsibilities? What I want to say at the start is that we obviously welcome the availability of this sum of money. It isn't a fund that has been co-designed, as it ought to have been, with the devolved Governments, and the detail on eligibility and roll-out remain, I think, at this point very vague, so we are working and hope to work with...
Jeremy Miles: They are not dead in the water; they are the fruit of very considerable joint working with the private sector, public sector, third sector, universities, and so on, right across Wales, and they remain the Welsh Government's ambition for supporting regional investment in Wales through the shared prosperity fund and, indeed, in any other way. We are working with stakeholders to understand,...
Jeremy Miles: Dai Lloyd raises a very important point in that question. The agreement makes a number of provisions in relation to the future governance of the relationship. Generally speaking, apart from, I think, in one context, the devolved institutions aren't expressly included in that. And one of the points that I've made already myself to UK Ministers relates to making sure that Wales has that role in...
Jeremy Miles: Certainly. Well, the Member will obviously understand that I would not wish to disclose the detail of conversations between law officers in different parts of the UK. However, I can obviously say that he will perhaps have noted from the pleadings that we have acknowledged that both the law officers of Scotland and Northern Ireland are interested parties in the sense of having an interest in...
Jeremy Miles: I thank Dawn Bowden for that supplementary, and for her longstanding advocacy of the cause of trade union membership as well. Workers across Wales and the UK will be utterly dismayed, I think, that, at the height of a pandemic and economic crises, the UK Government think that it's remotely appropriate to consider taking an axe to basic protections on working time and holiday pay entitlements....
Jeremy Miles: We have consistently said to the UK Government, through the Joint Ministerial Committee (EU Negotiations) and in bilateral discussions, that the UK must commit to non-regression from existing standards and employment rights. The UK must stick to the obligations it has entered into in the EU-UK trade and co-operation agreement.
Jeremy Miles: Absolutely. I take very much the point that David Rees raises in his question. It's absolutely essential that we do all that we can, and continue to do all that we can, to support British-produced steel, and in our case, of course, Welsh-produced steel. One of the considerations that we are anxious about is that one of the consequences of the safeguarding arrangements currently in place is...
Jeremy Miles: Diolch, Llywydd. In terms of supporting the steel sector in Wales, in order to respond to the new arrangements, one of the first considerations that we need clarity on with the sector is in relation to the safeguard measures that currently apply to protect certain quantities of steel exports into the EU. Those safeguards expire, as the Member may be aware, in June of this year, and we're...
Jeremy Miles: Well, in terms of the updating of the industry on the operation of the tariff-free arrangements, obviously, she will know that there is a moment in June of this year when the safeguard arrangements need to be clarified, and we are pressing as a Government for immediate clarification from—[Inaudible.]
Jeremy Miles: We understand the steel industry and unions have cautiously welcomed the EU-UK trade co-operation agreement. We welcome the tariff-free quotas agreed for GB steel exports to the EU, but share the concerns of the industry about the capacity of sales to Northern Ireland counting against these quotas.
Jeremy Miles: The trade disruption we are now seeing was an inevitable consequence of the UK Government’s approach to trading with the EU. We are pressing UK Ministers to do everything possible to help businesses navigate this new bureaucracy and limit the damage to EU-facing businesses and ports, including the port of Holyhead.
Jeremy Miles: A similar mandate, incidentally, would be required for those who seek to take Wales out of the United Kingdom. We don't want that to happen for the reasons that I outlined earlier. A strong Wales that has its voice heard and its needs reflected—and certainly better heard and reflected than today—in a strong UK is what we want to see. Now is not the time, so soon after the UK Government...
