The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill

Part of 3. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 3:00 pm on 10 January 2018.

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Photo of Mick Antoniw Mick Antoniw Labour 3:00, 10 January 2018

Cabinet Secretary, I agree with many of the comments that you've made, but, of course, we are in a situation now where things are getting so desperate within the Tory Government that they now have a Brexit Minister, Suella Fernandes, who, openly, is saying that it would be great to have no deal—almost the worst possible economic consequence for Wales, but who thinks it would be fantastic not to have any deal whatsoever. You've got a Tory Government that is so desperate in terms of its economic position and its failure to really attract any credibility in its negotiations with the EU that it's actually talking about taking us into a trade deal to join the Pacific trading bloc, something that I'm sure may cause considerable concern as to what its impact might be on the Welsh economy. The crux of the problem, really, is that we have a Government that is actually incapable of resolving these issues.

My concern is where that drift takes us, because it now moves not just to the issue of whether we can get a withdrawal Bill into working order, and if we can't then the issue of the role the House of Lords will play, almost as a constitutional parliamentary block, in terms of upholding the Sewel convention, and the refusal of an LCM by Wales and by Scotland, so a constitutional crisis as well as a democratic crisis and an economic crisis. It's also a question of the fact that the Government is also, through the back door, pursuing other Brexit-related legislation like the Trade Bill, which is equally as bad, if not, actually, almost even worse, because of the way in which it proposes to use the royal prerogative, and the fact that it is still incapable of giving any commitment on the financial red lines that would also be essential in terms of a post-Brexit situation. So, within that environment, where is the basis for trust? It seems to me half the Tory Government are either incompetent and incapable, and the other half are just telling fibs. So, where do we go?