1. What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the impact of the Salzburg summit on Wales? 215

Thank you, Llywydd. The rejection of the Prime Minister's proposals in Salzburg leads to an assessment by the Welsh Government that this increases the risk of a 'no deal'. This would be catastrophic for Wales, as we say each time, and must be avoided. The negotiations are not a choice between Chequers and 'no deal', and need to be conducted in a spirit of compromise to protect our economy and jobs.

I thank the Cabinet Secretary for that answer. Of course, very quickly last week the UK's negotiating position evaporated in Salzburg, and the UK Prime Minister succeeded in uniting the EU-27 leaders in their exasperation. Of course, as the Cabinet Secretary has alluded to, the Prime Minister has made the prospect of a 'no deal' separation more, not less, likely, and we are all aware of the catastrophic consequences that will have on Welsh jobs and Welsh communities. Seeing as the Welsh Government agrees that a 'no deal' Brexit is now more likely than it was before the Salzburg summit, can the Cabinet Secretary in the first instance reassure this Assembly that preparations for a 'no deal' are to be enhanced? I take the point entirely that there is no way to mitigate 'no deal', but are steps being taken now to enhance our preparations for a 'no deal' outcome? I think there is a growing level of concern within Wales that we are not as prepared as we could be. I note, for example, concerns raised by the Royal College of Nursing who have said that they remain concerned that Welsh preparations for Brexit are relatively early on in development, and sufficient time to work through all of the detail may be running out. So, can he assure us that he's stepping up efforts to prepare for 'no deal' as best as possible?

And finally, Llywydd, the fallout from Salzburg has included the Prime Minister of the UK handing the Democratic Unionist Party a veto on a hard border in Ireland. The Cabinet Secretary and his Cabinet colleagues have told me on a number of occasions that this United Kingdom is a partnership of equals, but Northern Ireland doesn't even have a Government, and yet one of its political parties has a border veto, but we in Wales will be forced to accept the hard border in the Irish sea in the event of a backstop taking effect. Meanwhile, the Scottish Government is fighting the great Westminster power grab in the courts. So, I ask the Cabinet Secretary: what of Wales? How does he propose we avoid a hard border in the Irish sea, given the fact that a 'no deal' is more likely, and how will he, importantly—and this is a crucial point in the current context—how will he create the political leverage in this, the most centralised of states, to defend Wales's economic and political interests? 

I thank the Member for those follow-up questions. To provide him with the assurance that he asked for, right across the Welsh Government we continue to take whatever steps we can to prepare for a disaster that would not be of our making, and we do so in the way that he put it—that we do the best we possibly can in those highly adverse conditions. If there are any organisations in Wales that have specific ideas as to how we could do better to prepare for that eventuality, then, of course, we are very keen to discuss that with them, and we do so right across the full range of Cabinet responsibilities.  

In his second set of questions, Steffan Lewis points to one of the key flaws in the Chequers White Paper, and that is to say that it does not provide a solution to the most intractable issue in the negotiations, and that is the hard border on the island of Ireland. When I said that it is incumbent upon those involved in the negotiations to approach that not on the basis of red lines and immovable positions, I did so entirely in order to focus on that small number of issues that are fundamental to moving Chequers forward, and the Irish border is at the very top of that list. I deeply regret the fact that in all the forums that I attend on behalf of the Welsh Government, we do not have representatives of a devolved administration in Northern Ireland there to assist in those discussions; we miss them being there every time. In their absence, we do everything we can to make sure that we take every opportunity to exercise the leverage that Steffan Lewis referred to, relying on the force of our argument, on the evidence that we provide, and our ability to form alliances with others around that table.       

Will you agree with me, Cabinet Secretary, that the UK Prime Minister was treated utterly disrespectfully in Salzburg last week, and that she is absolutely trying to defend the best interests of this country, including the protection of the United Kingdom, which, of course, is absolutely essential?

You will be aware that there have only been two deals that have been presented, if you like, as being acceptable by the EU. The first would mean that we would have to accept uncontrolled immigration, that we would have to accept all of the EU’s rules, that we couldn’t do trade deals on our own with other countries around the world, and, of course, that would make an absolute mockery of the referendum that was held, where people voted to leave the EU for many of those precise reasons.

The other thing that is being proposed by the EU, of course, is a free trade agreement for Great Britain, but Great Britain only, excluding Northern Ireland, which would remain within the customs union that already exists as part of the single market, which, of course, would undermine the integrity of the United Kingdom. [Interruption.] Now, of course, the UK Parliament—[Interruption.] I can hear people carping on the nationalist benches, as I would expect when I’m trying to talk up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but the reality is that the UK Parliament has already rejected the suggestion that there ought to be a border in the Irish sea utterly unanimously.

So, it’s for the EU now to move its position to something that is more acceptable to the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and the UK Government are there, they are available, they want to talk, they want to strike a deal. But I would support the Prime Minister, and I would hope that you would too, in trying to make sure that no deal is going to undermine the integrity of the United Kingdom. So, will you tell us: will you support the Prime Minister as she seeks to defend this United Kingdom? What action is the Welsh Government going to take to ensure that the vote that was taken here, whereby the people of Wales voted to come out of the EU, is completely honoured?

Well, Llywydd, as the Member knows, we would support a deal done by the Prime Minister provided it meets the six tests that the Labour Party has set out. If she returns with a deal that ensures a strong and collaborative future relationship with the European Union, if she comes back with a deal that delivers the same benefits we have currently as members of the single market and the customs union, if she is able to ensure fair management of migration in the interests of the economy and communities, and if she is able to defend rights and protections, then there is a chance that we will be able to support such a deal. She will not strike such a deal on the basis of the stance that she and others in her Government have taken up to this point.

The Member refers to a mockery. The mockery the Prime Minister faces is most powerfully felt, surely, from her own backbenches, where the ideas that she puts forward are derided in the strongest of language by people who, only a few weeks before, were sitting around her own Cabinet table. That’s the mockery of the position that the Prime Minister finds herself in.

And when the European Union simply asks, on Ireland for example, that the backstop agreed—agreed—by her Government is honoured in the next phase of negotiations, we simply should not be taken by surprise that they expect what the UK Government has signed up to to be honoured.

I hear the theme that the Brexiteers are developing, and he’s repeated it here this afternoon, that somehow it is now up to the European Union to solve the mess of his Government’s creation. The European Union is not leaving the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom has taken a decision to leave the European Union, and it has to be for the Government of the United Kingdom, populated as it is by people who told us that this would be the easiest negotiation that anybody had ever entered into—it is up to that Government to come up with solutions and not to attempt to shift the responsibility onto others.

I thank the Cabinet Secretary.