A Trade Deal with the EU

Part of 2. Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for European Transition (in respect of his European transition responsibilities) – in the Senedd at 2:55 pm on 11 November 2020.

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Photo of Jeremy Miles Jeremy Miles Labour 2:55, 11 November 2020

I thank the Member for her supplementary, and I will take this opportunity of saying how glad I was to see that Joe Biden was elected president with such a resounding result. It's a triumph for internationalism, principle and reason. So, I am very pleased that we're having this discussion in that context. 

She's absolutely right to say that the prospects of a deal with the European Union have been set back by the introduction of the internal market Bill, because it raised the question of trust. And if you're in the middle of negotiating an international agreement, then having one party signal very unequivocally that it is perfectly content to break international agreements is obviously corrosive of trust in those discussions. And I think that has had a material effect on discussions. 

She will have followed, as I have, the discussions in the House of Lords, which have demonstrated a very wide and deep coalition of opposition to the Bill, for the reasons that she gives. And I think we will continue—. We have discussed with peers the approach that the Welsh Government is taking and have advocated that approach, and we will continue to do that. I think a wise Government would respond to that by amending the legislation, in a very great number of ways, by the way. And I urge the UK Government to take the opportunity of responding to such a wide and deep coalition of opposition and taking steps to amend the legislation in the way that her question suggests.