Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales – in the Senedd at 2:13 pm on 26 February 2020.
Well, we remain open-minded about free ports, but let me just be absolutely clear, in answering the Member, what free ports, in our view, should not be. They should not be a means of lowering employment or health or environmental standards—absolutely not. Nor they should be used in a way that displaces activity away from existing ports and enterprise zones. Now, the Member is very well aware that Holyhead port, that Deeside industrial zone, that many, many centres of activity in north Wales, could be threatened by the establishment of a free port zone if it was not carried out in the correct manner. And so, whilst we remain open-minded, I would have to say to the Member that they should not be embraced as an idea without first of all approaching them very, very sceptically.