Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:18 pm on 27 September 2016.
To me, agreeing that fundamental point is essential before we can move on to anything else. That is the basis—the building block—on which any deal can be built. Unless we get progress on that, it’s very difficult to see progress on anything else.
I’m certainly concerned that the UK is now seen as not wanting to engage with the EU. There are issues. I met with the chief commissioner of Gibraltar two days ago—the worry that Gibraltar has is that Spain will veto any deal of any kind with the UK unless the issue of Gibraltar is resolved to Spain’s satisfaction. It’s an opportunity that Spain has that wasn’t there before, which Brexit has delivered. So, there are many, many factors still at play here, some of which will not yet have been identified.