Freight Capacity Framework Agreement

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:31 pm on 22 October 2019.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:31, 22 October 2019

Well, Llywydd, Mick Antoniw is right to the point to the significance of Welsh ports. It's often, I think, not easily understood in other parts of the United Kingdom, but Holyhead is one of the busiest ports in the whole of the UK. Now, if we leave the European Union without a deal—an eventuality that we have absolutely regularly pointed out to be disastrous as far as the Welsh economy is concerned—then there will be immediate and adverse impacts at Welsh ports. And while we have worked with the UK Government and with ports authorities to mitigate those impacts, they will be real and they will be felt in Wales, as well as elsewhere. 

Llywydd, Mick Antoniw went on to point out the impact of the deal that the Prime Minister has now struck. And we are not well prepared for that deal, because we have proceeded on the basis of the Prime Minister's previous pronouncements on this subject. On 2 July, he told an audience in Belfast,

'under no circumstances', he said

'whatever happens, will I allow the EU or anyone else to create any kind of division down the Irish sea.'

The second of July, that's what he said—an arrangement that Mrs May described, let's not forget, as something that no UK Prime Minister could ever agree to. And here we are, a few short weeks later, and that is exactly what is now being proposed. And that without any opportunity for us to explore with this administration the impact that that decision will have on ports here in Wales, and those impacts will be absolutely real. The Johnson deal makes Wales, and Welsh ports, the front line between Great Britain and the European Union. 

Now, I've seen the Member's correspondence with my colleague Ken Skates on these matters, and I'm very happy to discuss a ministerial meeting involving Mick Antoniw and the trade unions.