I’ve not yet rung the hotline. I’d hope that it would give me more information than if I’d rung the speaking clock, but, so far, the person on the end of that of that hotline has simply said to me, ‘It’ll all be fine’. So, I’m not sure that the information is as detailed as it should be at this stage.

He raises many important points there. If I could deal with Nissan first, on Monday it was made clear that the UK Government was still considering a Brexit strategy that did include tariffs. I asked the Prime Minister to her face to rule out any strategy, any deal, that would involve tariffs, and she would not do so. Then we had the news that Nissan had made this announcement. Then we had the news that the UK Government was looking to use what I can only describe as its best endeavours to secure tariff-free access for the automotive industry.

I couldn’t disagree with that, but what about the other sectors? It seems to be a completely piecemeal approach without any kind of overarching strategy. What does this mean for Airbus? What does this mean for Tata? We don’t know. All we know is that a deal has been negotiated, apparently, for automotive without any money being involved. Now, I don’t believe that. I think it’s hugely important and, indeed, the Cabinet Secretary has already written to the Secretary of State asking him to disclose the full details of the financial settlement. We need to know. This is a UK matter. If the UK Government has made a pledge that it will compensate for tariffs and it does that for every sector, we’ll end up paying more than we did when we were members of the EU, and paying companies rather than paying the EU. So, we don’t know. This smacks of an approach that is piecemeal and not one that is well thought through, and that needs to change. There needs to be a strategy here so that people understand where they’re going.

I welcome, of course, what the Prime Minister said before the Joint Ministerial Committee in terms of frequency of meetings, because that was all agreed in 2014. So, I’m not surprised that she reiterated what we’d all agreed in 2014 anyway. But yes, it is, of course, useful that the JMC plenary meets on a more regular basis and that the Prime Minister is at the JMC plenary.

He makes the point about a putative council of ministers. That is essential in my view, because we will need to have a mechanism where we can get agreement across the nations of the UK when it comes to looking to develop common frameworks. There is a precedent for this, because, when I was agriculture secretary back in 2000, 2001, we used to meet every month and agree the UK line at the Council of Ministers. That was seen as quite normal. So, this has happened in the past, and there is no reason why this shouldn’t happen in the future.

On the JMC European negotiations, it’s not an advisory body. Certainly, it was made very clear that this is not a body that is there for the UK Government to tell us what it is going to do without us having the ability to put our own view forward and to make sure we get an agreed way forward. So, it isn’t a sounding board and it isn’t a notice board of any kind; it is meant to be a proper forum for deciding the way forward.

In terms of the fiscal framework, everything is being looked at at the moment as part of the fiscal framework. But ultimately, of course, we know that there are still issues such as Barnett that don’t favour Wales. We know that there are unanswered questions in terms of what happens after 2020, and we don’t have answers to those questions yet.

He’s raised the interesting point about Welsh work permits. He’s raised it before with me. I think it’s an issue that needs to be looked at carefully, and it’s an issue that I have some interest in, to see how that would work at a UK level. I don’t share the view, if I’m honest, that it’s possible to have different arrangements for different constituent nations of the UK in terms of their relationship with the EU. I don’t see how that would work. If, for example, Scotland had a different form of access to the single market, that would inevitably mean different levels of customs and a border. I think it’s very difficult to have a member state with different arrangements within the member state, especially when that member state has countries that are attached to each other. It’s easy if you’re Greenland. It’s not as easy if you’re England, Scotland and Wales. What I want to see is a good deal for the whole of the UK and particularly, of course, a good deal for Wales.

I share his concern—and I made this point to the Prime Minister—that I don’t want to see the interests of the City of London being seen as paramount and more important than the interests of any other sector. We see on the hard right of the Conservative Party—it came from Peter Lilley, it has come from Liam Fox, it has come from Patrick Minford—that what we need is for service industries to have access to other markets, but manufacturing isn’t important. I don’t agree with that view, sorry, and I don’t think that those people who voted for Brexit thought that they were voting to see the manufacturing industry disappearing from Wales or the rest of the UK.

In terms of the repeal Bill, my understanding is that it will look to deal with the situation in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland simply to entrench current EU law in the respective nations. It will be entirely a matter for this Assembly then to decide which of those laws it wishes to keep or not. There would be nothing, to my mind, of course, to stop the Assembly, if it wanted, from actually implementing directives of the Commission, even if we were outside the Commission, if it was felt that that would be helpful for business. These are all issues that will need to be explored, but, again, the alleged great repeal Bill can’t be used as a mechanism for removing the powers of this Assembly and the people of Wales—that is not what the people of Wales voted for in two referendums.

There are many question I can’t answer because I don’t have answers from the UK Government, but it’s absolutely clear to me that the development of those answers has to happen soon. I’ve outlined what our position is as a Government. We need the UK Government to do the same, so that we can see where they are coming from. But this piecemeal approach of approaching first of all a company with a deal, then a sector with a deal, is not going to work. It’s absolutely crucial that we have a coherent approach that benefits all and all those people who live in the constituent nations of the UK.