Part of 2. Questions to the Counsel General and Brexit Minister (in respect of his Brexit Minister responsibilities) – in the Senedd at 2:25 pm on 20 March 2019.
I thank the Member for that supplementary. She has raised this with me a number of times in the Chamber. I know how vital the automotive sector is in her constituency and in other parts of Wales. There is a very, very constant stream of communication—two-way communication—between Welsh Government, the Minister for Economy and Transport and officials with companies who are car producers, but also in the supply chains across Wales. She will know that there has been funding made available for skills training for some of those larger employers in the automotive sector. I took the opportunity of a recent meeting with the UK Government on UK-wide preparedness to make the point that even though we see companies, car producers, in England—for example, Honda in Swindon—making decisions to disinvest, the impact of that sort of decision is felt across the UK, including in Wales, in a number of the supply chains feeding into that company. And there are several companies who are significantly dependent on that sort of supply chain for their business and profitability.
She will have noticed that the UK Government's tariffs announcement in the last week or 10 days in the event of a 'no deal' Brexit, which was described by the Confederation of British Industry and many unions as very, very disappointing, obviously had something specific to say about car component parts. Actually, the focus there needs to be on the non-tariff barriers as well, so that companies in Wales and across the UK can continue to export car components in what are increasingly complex production and supply chains.