Part of 2. Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for European Transition (in respect of his European Transition responsibilities) – in the Senedd at 3:04 pm on 27 January 2021.
Well, the responsibility for the new obstacles to export and freight through our ports is the direct consequence of the UK Government's political priorities in the trade and co-operation agreement with the European Union. There obviously were new obstacles to trade introduced on 1 January. What I would say though is that we've put in place, as a Government, plans to handle the transport and traffic impact of that on our ports, and indeed are working with the UK Government and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and the Irish Government to ensure that there are as smooth as possible arrangements in place for freight passing through Holyhead and through our ports in the south-west in particular. And that is absolutely having an effect in making that journey smoother. But the point that he makes in his question is that these are, essentially, matters of political choice. They are new barriers to trade that, obviously, we very much regret having seen imposed on Welsh hauliers.