8. Will the First Minister make a statement on support for the port of Holyhead? OAQ52207

We continue to work with and support Stenaline to maximise Holyhead’s potential to increase economic growth and jobs for the region. This includes engaging on plans for a new multi-use berth, for which we have granted £0.5 million under the ports development fund towards undertaking a feasibility study.

Thank you very much. This Friday, a group will be reconvened bringing together various users of the port. It will be jointly chaired by myself as Assembly Member and the Member of Parliament for Anglesey, and I’m grateful for the confirmation over the last three quarters of an hour that the Welsh Government will send an official to that meeting. But prior to that meeting, I would like to appeal for a very clear focus from the Welsh Government on supporting and investing in the port of Holyhead and the transport infrastructure serving that port, particularly as a result of the challenge of Brexit, competition from other ports such as Liverpool, and the challenge of direct crossings developing more and more from Ireland to France. We must ensure that the excellent port of Holyhead continues to be competitive for the sake of jobs directly there and, of course, for the wider economy of Anglesey and not just north Wales, but the whole of Wales too.

Brexit, of course, is a challenge for Holyhead and the other ports such as Pembroke Dock and Fishguard. I can remember a time when there were tolls at Holyhead. Not everybody was checked, but if you were stopped there, there was a problem as regards a delay before moving on.

For me, there are two things. Firstly, we don’t know exactly what the relationship will be between Holyhead and Ireland. We’ve said that nothing should go there, by saying that the UK should remain in the customs union and that is vital. When I spoke to Irish Ferries, one thing that struck me was that they said there is potential as regards ferries going from Ireland to France directly, but that the capacity isn’t quite the same as that from Dublin to Holyhead. Their problem was that they would carry something like fish and then find that they couldn’t get out of the Holyhead port in time and then they would miss the ferry at Dover and their load would perish. That is something that they considered would have to be resolved.

At the moment, I don’t see any kind of investment from the United Kingdom Government in the network in Holyhead, but what I wouldn't like to see would be tolls and, even worse, we wouldn’t want to see any kind of passport control in Holyhead. All that that would do is make it even more difficult to use the port and give a competitive advantage to ports such as Cairnryan and Liverpool.