Part of 2. Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for European Transition (in respect of his European Transition responsibilities) – in the Senedd at 2:41 pm on 7 October 2020.
Well, subject to the concerns that I have just articulated more broadly, the level of engagement in relation to haulier preparedness and business preparedness more broadly hasn't been what it needs to be. There is a very practical set of interventions that will have a very real effect on routes to our ports, if freight operators are not able to arrive there with the level of preparation that's required. There will be a significant potential logistical knock-on effect to that. And as you say, as the Member says, there is a much broader ripple effect in terms of the preparedness of suppliers and businesses across the UK, and it remains the case that our confidence that that level of preparation amongst businesses is being undertaken is very low. That isn't a criticism of those businesses. Many of them are facing incredible pressures as a consequence of the response to COVID and, bluntly, even though we want to raise awareness that there is a need to prepare, nobody at this point can articulate exactly what's required in order to meet those new arrangements. And so that is exactly why there needs to be an urgent clarification around those requirements and stepped-up engagement, both with hauliers, but also enabling businesses to make those preparations in a sensible and pragmatic way, as the Member suggests.