The North Wales Growth Deal

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:30 pm on 14 September 2021.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:30, 14 September 2021

Well, Llywydd, I thank the Member for that. Of course, I am aware that the Holyhead gateway project is part of the land and property theme of the growth deal, and we do take a direct and continuing interest in it. The Member will be aware of the significant challenges that there are for Welsh ports as a result of the Northern Ireland protocol, and we continue to raise these matters with colleagues in the UK Government as well. Until some of those matters are properly resolved, then the current levels of trade through Holyhead will not recover to the levels that we saw prior to the agreement of the terms on which we've left the European Union. So, I agree with what the Member said: it is a complex project, and one that has become all the more complex because of the context in which it now operates.