Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:05 pm on 21 March 2017.
There is a danger that the UK will start to unravel. In particular, one thing that is not often mentioned, but I think is worth noting, is what might cause the rise of English nationalism, and people in England feeling aggrieved with the system. And I think this can all be avoided fairly easily. The distinct national identities of our four nations can be recognised while at the same time recognising the common purpose that the UK provides, but that does mean putting in place a structure that reflects the fact that this is a partnership of nations, rather than believing that this is something like the unitary state that the UK was in 1972, before it entered what was then the Common Market. So, these issues are resolvable—there’s no doubt about that in my mind. They need to be resolved so that, when the UK leaves the EU, that structure is in place already in terms of the internal single market of the UK, in terms of the council of Ministers, rather than doing it a few years after that and then leaving a vacuum. That’s in no-one’s interest.