Part of 2. Questions to the Counsel General and Brexit Minister (in respect of his Brexit Minister responsibilities) – in the Senedd at 3:01 pm on 20 March 2019.
Well, underlying the question is the question of uncertainty about what happens next, and plainly that is the overarching context for all that reflection and discussions. I was in Holyhead a few weeks ago, talking to the port authorities there. Obviously, one of the biggest variables in what happens to them after we leave the European Union is the response in Dublin, in the port there, in terms of border infrastructure and checks and so on. That's a significant issue, as the question obviously acknowledges.
There are, of course, other dimensions to this. We saw, as I mentioned in my response to an earlier question, the publication of the UK Government's proposals for tariffs in the event of 'no deal' and they have a dimension that affects trade with Ireland, in relation in particular to beef imports, and there's also, of course, the commitment in that policy document to ensuring that there will be no customs checks on the border with the Republic, which feels to me like it's not a sustainable long-term arrangement in a context where otherwise there isn't a broader customs relationship, and, of course, it poses a potential challenge for us here in Wales. If it is easier to ship goods from the Republic into Northern Ireland without tariffs and from there into Great Britain, that may pose a challenge for the trade route from Ireland directly into Wales. So, I think these dimensions need to be—. There are many unintended consequences to some of these policy decisions, so we're very alive to some of the potential challenges we may face in that context.