6. What assessment has the Counsel General made of the impact of the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020? OQ56178

The UK internal market Act seeks to hollow out the Senedd's legislative competence in a number of areas. That is why I have initiated legal action. It also gives the UK Government financial assistance powers, as they're called, which are already being used to circumvent devolved competence, most blatantly through the so-called shared prosperity fund. 

I absolutely support the actions that you've taken, and I hope that everybody here will as well. We find ourselves—and I'll use the terminology of the right wing—in splendid isolation in terms of the ports in the areas that I represent actually not having any trade. However, there is nothing splendid in being isolated in a way that threatens jobs and threatens the economy. People are being left stranded with nothing to do and no future to look forward to. So, could I ask you if you will continue with the conversations, but also implore the Secretary of State for Wales, who represents this area, to be a louder and clearer voice in supporting those businesses in his own community?

I would echo Joyce Watson's concerns in relation to this. What we will do as a Government is continue the efforts that we've been engaged in to make sure that the economic impact on the ports in the region that she represents, and, indeed, businesses right across Wales—that they are able to respond to these new barriers that the trade and co-operation agreement have introduced. There is no doubt that there are many challenges for businesses that lie ahead. We are working on understanding the implications of what is still a very new set of arrangements, and we'll be hoping to provide some further specific guidance to businesses in Wales in the coming weeks in relation to that. I'm sure the Secretary of State for Wales will have heard Joyce Watson's pleas on behalf of the part of the world they both represent.