Thank you very much. I move the motion. Thank you for the opportunity to explain further the background to this motion on legislative consent on the UK Trade Bill. The objective of the Trade Bill is to ensure that our trading relations can continue and that procurement markets remain available to us. It’s worth noting that the Bill will achieve four things. First, it will provide regulation-making powers to Ministers of the Crown and devolved authorities in order to put the World Trade Organization trade agreements in place. Secondly, the Bill will provide regulation-making powers to Ministers of the Crown as well as devolved authorities, and this will mean that international trade agreements with third countries that already have trade agreements with the European Union can continue. Thirdly, it will establish a trade remedy authority to provide a new trade remedy framework for the UK. And finally, it will be a gateway for data sharing between the HMRC and other private and public bodies.

I want to be clear from the outset that the main purpose of the Trade Bill is to ensure the continuity of trade and to safeguard the membership of the UK in the Government procurement agreement. It doesn’t relate to the process to agree trade deals in future. We have stated clearly to the UK Government that no process or lack of process that relates to trade continuity programmes will set a precedent for the role that we wish to play in negotiating new trade agreements. And it is worth highlighting that the relationship between Wales and the UK Government in terms of new trade deals isn’t included in the scope of this Bill, and we will deal with this separately.

Despite that, I welcome the amendments passed in the House of Lords, and these make it clear that when future trade agreements are discussed, there will be a role for the UK Parliament and for devolved authorities too, so that they too can participate in negotiations on trade agreements for the future.

We have explained clearly in our policy, our trade policy, what our requirements are in terms of participating in these negotiations. And I’m pleased to say that the discussions on the establishment of a ministerial forum on international trade and a concordat on the issue are progressing well. Of course, I will provide an update to the Assembly on these negotiations at an appropriate time.

Now, I have put in place two legislative consent memorandums for this Bill. The supplementary memorandum tabled last week notes the latest information on the matters that require consent.