The Implications for Wales of the Withdrawal Agreement

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:36 pm on 20 November 2018.

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Photo of Steffan Lewis Steffan Lewis Plaid Cymru 1:36, 20 November 2018

I thank the First Minister for his answer. I wonder if he can provide his view and analysis on the Northern Ireland backstop in particular and its implications for Wales. As ever with the UK Government, the rhetoric and the reality do not appear to match even when we've got the detail of a 600-page withdrawal agreement. The UK Government is arguing that the Northern Ireland backstop will provide Northern Ireland with two open borders: one with the Republic and one with Britain. But if there is regulatory or non-regulatory divergence between Northern Ireland and Britain, surely that means that there'll be a hard border in the Irish sea. Is that the First Minister's understanding of the withdrawal agreement and the backstop in particular? And would he agree, therefore, that that would be bad news for Welsh ports and the Welsh economy generally? Or is he aware of any other proposal that the UK Government might have, such as unilaterally deciding not to check any goods that come from Northern Ireland, whether there's a backstop or not?