Jeremy Miles: I'm sure none of those are rhetorical questions, but just to be clear, I would expect the Member to support a migration policy that that stands up and reflects the interests of the people of Wales and the public services of Wales, and the economies and employers of Wales. That is not, I'm afraid, what the most recent proposals from the UK Government have done. They certainly don't reflect the...
Jeremy Miles: Llywydd, I believe that you have given your consent to this question being grouped with question 6. I was disappointed that the UK Government didn't share their proposals with us before they were announced to the media. Whilst immigration is not, of course, devolved, future migration policy is of profound importance and will have significant impacts on our economy and our communities. Reform...
Jeremy Miles: I thank the Member for that question. I'm afraid I don't have the precise number for Caerphilly council, but I will happily write to her in relation to that. Part of the objective in providing the funding is to allow a degree of flexibility in how this works on the ground, recognising that local, different communities in parts of Wales will have different needs. But we are also providing a...
Jeremy Miles: Most recently, we have provided an additional £224,000 funding to local authorities to put support in place for EU citizens applying to the EU settlement scheme. The funding is flexible, to enable local authorities to be able to provide tailored support to their local communities. This is part of a range of support we have made available to support EU citizens in Wales to apply.
Jeremy Miles: Well, we continue to do that. The Minister for international relations was in Brussels recently, the First Minister will be there shortly. We take every opportunity of making sure that what is in the interests of the Welsh economy is understood by any of our interlocutors. But what I will say to the Member, though, is that in this period of the negotiations ahead, the parties to that...
Jeremy Miles: The Member's gift for caricature remains undiminished. That is not the EU's position. What the political declaration said, which both the European Union and the UK Government have signed—have agreed—is that, at the end of the transition period, the standards that apply in both, including in the level-playing-field context, should continue to apply. It is not the case that you can draw a...
Jeremy Miles: The EU's draft negotiating mandate largely reflects the political declaration agreed between the UK and the EU in October last year. We, as a Government, set out our position on the political declaration in 'The Future UK/EU Relationship: Negotiating Priorities for Wales' in January of this year.
Jeremy Miles: Well, I don't understand the notion of 'subservience'. We have a UK Government at the moment that seems intent on questioning the role of the judiciary in British public life. I think that there are significant risks in fetishising this matter, which is what the UK Government is doing. It is absolutely an area where a more pragmatic approach should be taken. For example, there are many...
Jeremy Miles: Well, I thank the Member for highlighting that point. When I met with the chair of the Migration Advisory Committee, the social care sector was exactly one of the sectors that I identified to him as being at risk from the sorts of migration policies that were being floated by the UK Government at that point and that have been confirmed in the most recent announcement. We had hoped, as a...
Jeremy Miles: Well, the political declaration, as the Member may recall, was clear that both parties—both the United Kingdom Government, at that point, and the European Union—were committing to maintaining standards, in terms of workplace rights and so on, which were in place at the end of the transition period. That was a feature of the political declaration. He will, I'm sure, share with me the...
Jeremy Miles: He identifies a very live example, it seems to me, of some of the problems that we may well face unless the negotiations with the European Union conclude in the kind of agreement that minimises the barriers to international freight and to trade, which are so important in many aspects of our economic life, but, as his question also makes clear, the life of our citizens in a very direct way, in...
Jeremy Miles: Well, the meeting I had earlier this week with a range of stakeholders around Wales and Home Office officials, included representation from the Welsh Local Government Association. Most recently, we've made funding available to each local authority to support their efforts in addition to the Wales-wide efforts that we are making, so that local authorities have the capacity to do it themselves...
Jeremy Miles: The most recent Home Office figures actually show Wales as the second of the four nations of the UK in terms of numbers of applications. Obviously, we want to see 100 per cent of eligible citizens applying, and we would hope and expect that the UK Government would share that ambition as well. Part of the issue, we believe, is in relation to the UK-wide communication strategy, which has...
Jeremy Miles: Certainly. That scheme is a scheme of the UK Government; it is not a scheme that we would have designed had we been in control of how it works, but we recognise that it is the scheme that is available. As a result, we've been taking a number of steps in order to support EU citizens living in Wales to apply to the scheme. We've, I think, committed around £2 million most recently in relation...
Jeremy Miles: I thank the Member for that important question and his point illuminates one of the under-explored aspects of some of the impacts of non-tariff barriers in particular. I can assure him that we continue to take every opportunity to impress upon the UK Government in their negotiations the importance of maintaining as few barriers as possible to trade, including the kind of freight lines that he...
Jeremy Miles: During the transition period, the UK will remain in the customs union and single market, leaving tariffs and customs arrangements unchanged for that period. It's clear this will change significantly at the end of transition, with a real increase in non-tariff barriers, including requirements for customs documentation, and potentially tariffs also.
Jeremy Miles: The LCM in relation to that has been laid today. I share with the Member the importance that he attaches to environmental protection in Wales and we have benefited from that during the course of our membership of the European Union. We have been very clear that what we want to see is continued alignment with the beneficial EU regulations that we've seen the benefit of in Wales over many...
Jeremy Miles: I'm pleased to confirm that the legislative consent memorandum for the UK Environment Bill has been laid today. This follows recent memoranda on four Bills relating to EU exit: the Withdrawal Agreement Bill, the Direct Payments Bill, the Agriculture Bill and the Fisheries Bill. We will keep under review the need for similar memoranda in relation to future Bills the UK Government may bring forward.
Jeremy Miles: Well, I've been absolutely tantalised by the instalments on Twitter from David Melding's book on the future of the constitution, which I commend to all Members. On the question of keeping pace, we will keep under review whether that needs to be brought forward. Our assessment today is that isn't necessary, but we will be keeping that under review. Should that analysis change, then so might...
Jeremy Miles: I thank David Rees for that range of important questions. On the exchange of correspondence with the UK Government, in their letters to me, they have referred to the circumstances as being unique, exceptional. So, that's language that has come from correspondence that they have sent to us, and I am sure he would join me in hoping that those circumstances are indeed unique, as they are...
