5. 3. Statement: EU Transition

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:13 pm on 13 September 2016.

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Photo of Andrew RT Davies Andrew RT Davies Conservative 4:13, 13 September 2016

First Minister, thank you for your statement this afternoon. Could I seek clarity, please, on one key area? You are signed up to, and I think we’re all signed up to as free a movement of goods and services as possible, because trade is good for any country, and the more barriers you put in place, the less job opportunities and the less prosperity you create. In the wake of the referendum, you gave a very clear statement—in fact, it was in the third point of six that you said that it was vital that we also retain the free movement of people within the condition. That was given on 24 June in your six points that you said was the Welsh Government’s position. I have to say, since then, and in particular after your press conference at the end of August, you’ve said that not making the same demands of the European system of the freedom of movement was now the Welsh Government’s position. It was keen to retain goods and services, but the free movement of people was no longer, and I quote this from the article, of the same demands that you were expecting out of the renegotiation. So, there is a material change in the Welsh Government’s position from what you stated in your six critical points that you outlined at the outset, at the end of June/beginning of July, to where the Government is at the moment. Can you confirm that is the case, please?