8. When will the First Minister meet with the First Ministers of the other UK devolved nations? OAQ(5)0069(FM)[W]

I met the First Minister of Scotland and the First Minister and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland at the British-Irish Council in Glasgow last Friday, which was also attended by the Taoiseach, Ministers from the UK Government and the Crown dependencies.

I thank the First Minister for that response. Did he have any discussion with them on the referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union, and particularly on the question as to what assurances other First Ministers within the UK, as well as you, have been given on what will happen if funding were to disappear from Wales and the other devolved nations because of a decision to withdraw from the European Union?

I believe that there were two who were in favour of withdrawal from the European Union: the representative of the United Kingdom as it stands at present and the First Minister of Northern Ireland, who’s said that publicly. The Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey were extremely concerned about the impact on them because, in the Isle of Man, for example, they have an economic pact with the United Kingdom that means that they are affiliated to the European Union. If the United Kingdom were to leave, what would that mean for the Isle of Man? So, we’ll have to discuss what the impact will be after Thursday, if the decision is to withdraw. But, there are other things that we need to discuss internally, for example, fisheries. There are no fisheries that are managed on a United Kingdom level. We’d all have to have joint discussions and negotiations on who would have access to the waters of Wales, England and Scotland. We would all have to discuss together what kind of individual agreements we would have with the other jurisdictions. So, there are a number of things that we would have to discuss if that is what happens on Thursday, which will take a great deal of time. So, there was huge concern, not just between us and Ireland and Scotland, but with the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey, too.

First Minister, I noticed that one of the items on the agenda for the British-Irish Council meeting was that of the support that’s required by carers across Wales and, in particular, that young and older carers were considered. Can you tell me: was any progress made on cross-governmental agreement, in terms of an approach to providing guaranteed rights to respite for carers? This is something that my party, of course, proposed in our manifesto in advance of the Welsh Assembly elections. When you speak to carers, there’s one thing that they’re all asking for, and that is a break at times to recharge their batteries.

I appreciate that, of course, and these are issues that we are examining. He asked particularly about the British-Irish Council; the British-Irish Council doesn’t decide common policy, but it’s a useful place to understand what others are doing. It’s a kind of mini European Commission—it’ll be abolished next week, now, you watch, now I’ve said that. It’s a body where Governments can come together to understand what’s being done in other administrations and learn. We have to see what works in other countries, particularly if they have a similar demographic to ours. So, that’s what the British-Irish Council does, but it was interesting to hear what’s being done in the other countries in terms of improving the rights of carers.

Thank you, First Minister.